Biographical works
These accounts were commissioned not for posterity in the public sense, but to ensure that the family itself would never mistake myth for character.
Several subjects here were persons of considerable public renown; the versions found in this archive differ materially from those published in their lifetimes—or suppressed after their deaths.
Vol. XII—Falling From Grace: The Dukes of Mallard
From 500 to 1990
Traces our aristocratic family line from the Dark Ages to 1990 with historical texture to create a portrait of primogeniture, power, decadence, and decline of aristocracy across fifteen centuries. And the rise of women on a lesser family line. The fall in material wealth for the ducal family as against the rise in intellectual wealth of the female line. Despite their fall from grace, the family has had a significant influence on many lives over generations.
Vol. IV—Raised to Grace: Ladies and Gentlemen
From 1850 to 1990
A bundle of Viola’s unpublished writings, annotated by Arthur Frederick Blandy, was discovered among the Vorpel-Mallard trunks. The fragments, possibly intended as a second volume of her lectures, explore the decline of the gentleman from parasite to empty signifier. The reader is left to decide if the conclusion, featuring Fabrice, is ironic or an indictment.
Vol. III—Grace Dispersed, Indian Runners
British India, 1850 to 1900
Most published work—written, of course, by men—on British India centres on men or on domestic service; women appear mainly as wives, sketches or footnotes. This surviving correspondence - of Mallard women in India writing letters that passed between Shimla, Bombay, Calcutta, Surrey, London and Sussex - is the archive English women of intellect living in India have been denied.
Vol. IV—Faith in Grace: The Bishops of Mallard
The life of Saint John Mallard
Explores the life of Lord John Mallard, Bishop of Ducks-on-Ponds, a man who rose through the ranks of the Georgian church not through merit but through his aristocratic background. Despite his disbelief in God, Mallard embraced the aesthetics of religion, finding beauty in the rituals and ceremonies. Mallard’s life is a testament to the enduring allure of style and tradition, even in the absence of genuine faith.
Vol. XX—Manly Grace: The Myth of the Mallards
A Life of Viscount Alban Fitzartur
The life and times of "the invisible flâneur", Alban Fitzartur a writer who explores forbidden love between men through a unique lens, focussing on the unspoken desires and hidden gazes between men in social settings. His works subtly challenge societal norms by highlighting the unspoken connections between men.
Vol. VI —The Blandy Papers: Maid for Murder
The mysterious Mrs Mallard
The Blandy Papers, a book by Edgar Fenwick, is a unique blend of social novel, epistolary confession, and moral inquiry. Through fragments of letters and diary entries, Fenwick reveals the madness of seemingly rational individuals in a society teetering between public decorum and private delirium. His precise and ironic style, devoid of sentimentality, exposes the absurdities of respectable society, making The Blandy Papers a timeless work that will outlast its century.
Vol. XI —Poisonous Grace
Mallard’s Deficit: A Chronicle of Matrimony and Means
Explores the financial and marital dynamics of the Duke of Mallard and his wife, Theodosia. Despite the Duke’s claims of poverty, Theodosia, inheriting wealth from deceased relatives, managed their finances, turning the tables on him. Their story, a blend of economics and sentiment, reflects the complexities of English aristocracy and the enduring nature of financial relationships.
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