We are an authorized, direct-from-the-publisher retailer of NEW books. Our titles are ON HAND and available for immediate shipping. Table of Contents "They were gold badges with the letters M.K.C. engraved on them, and suspended by ribbons. It was the beginning of a long-continued effort to curb the practice of bestowing costly favors on young ladies who could not accept such tokens under other circumstances."
- Perry Young describes the first Krewe of Comus favors, 1882 In addition to the colorful Mardi Gras parades that New Orleans social groups, or krewes, produce for the city's general populace, the Carnival season features elaborate balls, pageants, and tableaux staged for the krewes' members and invited guests. These productions often rival the pomp of actual royal ceremonies as revelers pay homage to the evening's kings, queens, and debutantes. During the Golden Age of Mardi Gras, the season's appointed rulers flaunted fine crowns, scepters, and other baubles worthy of a real monarch. Each lady in attendance could expect not only a waltz with a masked krewe member, but also a precious gift, or favor, created to coincide with the annual theme. These valuable gifts, often made of silver and gold and adorned with enamel or semiprecious stones, were sometimes given anonymously. Carnival's Golden Age began with the satirical celebrations of the early 1870s, blossomed in grandeur from the 1880s until World War I, and ended with the coming of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Mardi Gras was then a fantastic empire, crowded with scenic parades and pageants drawn from a cornucopia of subjects mythology, history, literature, theology, nature, and whimsy. The jewelry, favors, and other accessories inspired by these themes reflect the craftsmanship and creativity of the krewes' designers, including Jennie Wilde, Charles Briton, Carlotta Bonnecaze, and Leda Hincks Plauche. This book, the fourth and final in a series of Mardi Gras Treasures, presents the first comprehensive survey, including more than two hundred and fifty color plates, of the jewelry and other precious objects commissioned for the revels of the Golden Age.
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