Divan Club (1744)
Some people consider looking at other people’s travel pictures a torture. Some, like John Montague and Francis Dashwood (who was also leading the Dilettanti Society) loved talking about the Ottoman Empire so much they created a society dedicated to tales of travel, The Divan Club was only open to men who had traveled to the Ottoman Empire, or who intended to make the journey.
They dressed in Ottoman-style clothing and met over dinner to talk about the culture and art of the region until they disbanded in the mid 1700s. Although the Divan Club was short lived, Dashwood wasn’t done with dining societies yet – he would go on to found the 1746 version of the Hellfire Club.
