A01=Meghan Kobza
anonymity
aristocracy
Author_Meghan Kobza
bridgerton
Category=AFW
Category=AKT
Category=NHD
Category=NHTB
conspicuous consumption
costume
debauchery
disguise
domino
elite
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fancy dress
Georgian
high society
impresario
leisure
London
mask
masked ball
masque
middle class
mischief
nobility
Teresa Cornelys
Product details
- ISBN 9780300276213
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 12 May 2026
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The first full history of an extraordinary eighteenth-century British entertainment
Glittering masquerades, held at the most fashionable London venues, dominated the calendars of the Georgian elite. A thrilling opportunity to gather, flirt, and consume, hosts such as “Empress of Pleasure” Teresa Cornelys welcomed the great and the good in elaborate costumes—including bear suits, harlequin outfits, or, in the case of Elizabeth Chudleigh, very little at all. The masquerade was a place of make-believe and revelry, and a party like no other.
Meghan Kobza invites us into these dazzling gatherings, and shows how they became a wider cultural obsession. Organised by wealthy impresarios, the masquerade allowed the aristocracy to flaunt their status and enjoy themselves behind the closed doors of opulent ballrooms, theatres, and gardens, dressed by an industry of ever more inventive habit makers. For the rest of society, the masquerade was notorious for mischief and misbehaviour, and a focus for voracious gossip.
Lavishly illustrated, full of life and originality, The Masquerade is a revelatory account of an event which captivates us to this day.
Glittering masquerades, held at the most fashionable London venues, dominated the calendars of the Georgian elite. A thrilling opportunity to gather, flirt, and consume, hosts such as “Empress of Pleasure” Teresa Cornelys welcomed the great and the good in elaborate costumes—including bear suits, harlequin outfits, or, in the case of Elizabeth Chudleigh, very little at all. The masquerade was a place of make-believe and revelry, and a party like no other.
Meghan Kobza invites us into these dazzling gatherings, and shows how they became a wider cultural obsession. Organised by wealthy impresarios, the masquerade allowed the aristocracy to flaunt their status and enjoy themselves behind the closed doors of opulent ballrooms, theatres, and gardens, dressed by an industry of ever more inventive habit makers. For the rest of society, the masquerade was notorious for mischief and misbehaviour, and a focus for voracious gossip.
Lavishly illustrated, full of life and originality, The Masquerade is a revelatory account of an event which captivates us to this day.
Meghan Kobza is a historian of leisure in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and particularly Georgian costume, fancy dress, and material culture. She is the author of The Domino and the Eighteenth-Century London Masquerade.
