For those who love love love etiquette
“Cards are the sign manual of society. Their use and development belongs only to a high order of civilization. They accompany us, as one writer has justly remarked, all the way from the cradle to the grave. They begin with engraved announcements fo the birth of a child, then cards for its christening, and, later…
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“He attended to that and came down with an invitation for me to go up—yes, certainly; and, while we walked along over to the bank to get money, and collect my cigars and tobacco, and to the cigar shop to trade back the lottery tickets and get my umbrella, and to Mr. Natural’s to pay…
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“This is rather a new entertainment. Its novelty lies in the fact that the beverage served is chocolate, and that chocolate enters into all the refreshments served, such as chocolate wafers, etc. A chocolate lemonade will be a nice addition in hot weather, chocolate bon bon being passed in dainty silver bon-bon baskets.” Social Etiquette…
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“It is bad manners for a gentleman to use perfumes to a noticeable extent.” Encyclopaedia of Business and Social Forms, 1880 Old etiquette books are apparently very opinionated about a man’s toilette. When I was teaching etiquette, I taught a number of eleven and twelve year-old boys. I used to say that cologne should be used…
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“The dining-room must be quietly but well lighted. There should be no glaring lights, but a soft radiance which is so general as to make everything clear. An electric light hanging eighteen inches above the table, or a tall lamp whose light is at about the same height, either of them well shaded, are satisfactory additions to…
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One of my favorite etiquette books is The Social Fetich by Lady Agnes Geraldine Grove (1908). Now, this isn’t a comprehensive book covering lots of topics. Rather the author covers just a few of what she considers areas of concern, some of which are pretty darn obscure. Case in point, a chapter on beginning and…
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My Friend, In Grecian times citizens who had done wrong might be voted out of society. Ostracization meant that no one would speak to you and you would be driven from the town, never to return. It was literally, a living death. By the Victorian times, a newer, subtler version of ostracization appeared that worked to great effect. …
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