Barbara Cartland's Etiquette Handbook: A Guide to Good Behaviour from the Boudoir to the Boardroom

Written nearly 50 years ago, this handbook conjures up a period when addressing work colleagues by their first names was frowned upon, wives could expect to receive a weekly allowance from their husbands, and hats were ubiquitous. Laced throughout is Barbara Cartland's wit and wisdom. This is a wonderfully evocative insight into manners that have largely disappeared on such topics as marriage (Unless she is ill a woman should get up and cook her husband’s breakfast before he goes to work in the morning. It is bad manners to do this in curlers, without lipstick, in a shabby dressing-gown and down-at-heel slippers.), children (Boys should be taught at a very early age—six or seven—to say "Sir" to an older man. They will continue to do this until they are about twenty-one.), romance (A young man taking a girl out for the evening usually calls for her at her parents’ house . . . It is correct for her father or mother to offer a cocktail or sherry and to talk to him for about five or ten minutes.), and table manners (Fresh fruit like apples and pears should be eaten with a silver knife and fork.).