The Grecian Bend and

CAREY’S GRECIAN BEND BITTERS

22 May 2013 (R•051414) (R•040815)

illustrations often show a woman with a large bustle and a very small parasol, bending forward

Have you ever wondered why the famous and extremely rare, Carey’s Grecian Bend Bitters was named so? Well today we are going to find out, at least I am!

The Grecian Bend was a dance move introduced to polite society in America just before the American Civil War. The “Bend” was considered very daring at the time. The stoop or the silhouette created by the fashion in women’s dress for corsets, crinolettes and bustles by 1869 was also called The Grecian Bend. Contemporary illustrations often show a woman with a large bustle and a very small parasol, bending forward. [Wikipedia]

Example #1: Carey’s Grecian Bend Bitters – Fuss Collection (ex: Feldmann), photo Ferdinand Meyer V

Example #2: Carey’s Grecian Bend Bitters – Bitters Bottles Supplement

There were many songs published with “Grecian Bend” in their titles. The term ‘Grecian bend’ appears in the song ‘The Garden Where The Praties Grow’ by Johnny Patterson:

Have you ever been in love my boys
Or have you felt the pain?
I’d sooner be in jail myself
Than be in love again
For the girl I loved was beautiful
I’d have you all to know
And I met her in the garden
Where the praties grow

She was just the sort of creature boys
That Nature did intend
To walk right through the world my boys
Without the Grecian bend
Nor did she wear a chignon
I’d have you all to know
And I met her in the garden
Where the praties grow

The original Grecian bend, Beato, Felice, b. ca. 1825 — Photographer, Albumen prints — Hand-colored, New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building / Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs

“The Grecian Bend, She Stoops to Conquer” – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Last of the “Grecian Bend” – N-YHS General Collections.

“The Grecian Bend”, a Currier & Ives lithograph of a woman performing a popular 19th-century postural affectation. c1868 – United States Library of Congress

The Grecian Bend, The Grecian Bend Publishing Company, New York – 1868

The Grecian Bend – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.