http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239101833510&
It's so very exciting to be working on two different books at once! It keeps me busy, but incredibly happy because I'm doing the things I love best: writing, and educating people about the Victorian era.
I saw this morning that my etiquette guide, True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen is up on the Skyhorse website! This is a volume of advice which I compiled and transcribed from our antique (19th-century) books. The thing I love most about working with primary source material is how strikingly relevant it remains to present-day life. I consider it a great honor to be able to bring these timeless words of wisdom to a greater audience.
Here's a sneak peek:
"Advice on Writing Love Letters, Answering Personal Ads, Courtship, and Marriage...
An Advertisement in a Morning Paper
PERSONAL - Will the lady who rode up Broadway last Thursday afternoon, about two o'clock, in an omnibus, getting out at Stewart's, accompanied by a little girl dressed in blue suit, please send her address to D.B.M., Herald office?
Remarks
It is useless to advise people never to reply to a personal advertisement like the above. To do so is like totally refusing young people the privilege of dancing. People will dance, and they will answer personal advertisements. The best course, therefore, is to properly direct the dancers, and caution the writers in their answers to newspaper personals. If the eye of the young lady referred to meets the above advertisement, she will possibly be indignant at first, and will, perhaps, resolve to pay no attention to it. It will continue to occupy her attention so much, however, and curiosity will become so great, that, in order to ease her mind, she will at last give her address; in which case she makes a very serious mistake, as any lady replying to a communication of such character, giving her name and residence to a stranger, places herself at great disadvantage. Should her communication never be answered, she will feel mortified ever afterwards that she committed the indiscretion of replying to the advertisement at all; and, should the person she addresses prove to be some worthless fellow who may presume to press an acquaintance upon the strength of her reply, it may cause her very serious perplexity and embarrassment. It is clearly evident, therefore, that she should not give her name and address as requested; and yet, as the advertisement may refer to a business matter of importance, or bring about an acquaintance which she will not regret, she may relieve her curiosity on the subject by writing the following note in reply..."
It's so very exciting to be working on two different books at once! It keeps me busy, but incredibly happy because I'm doing the things I love best: writing, and educating people about the Victorian era.
I saw this morning that my etiquette guide, True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen is up on the Skyhorse website! This is a volume of advice which I compiled and transcribed from our antique (19th-century) books. The thing I love most about working with primary source material is how strikingly relevant it remains to present-day life. I consider it a great honor to be able to bring these timeless words of wisdom to a greater audience.
Here's a sneak peek:
"Advice on Writing Love Letters, Answering Personal Ads, Courtship, and Marriage...
An Advertisement in a Morning Paper
PERSONAL - Will the lady who rode up Broadway last Thursday afternoon, about two o'clock, in an omnibus, getting out at Stewart's, accompanied by a little girl dressed in blue suit, please send her address to D.B.M., Herald office?
Remarks
It is useless to advise people never to reply to a personal advertisement like the above. To do so is like totally refusing young people the privilege of dancing. People will dance, and they will answer personal advertisements. The best course, therefore, is to properly direct the dancers, and caution the writers in their answers to newspaper personals. If the eye of the young lady referred to meets the above advertisement, she will possibly be indignant at first, and will, perhaps, resolve to pay no attention to it. It will continue to occupy her attention so much, however, and curiosity will become so great, that, in order to ease her mind, she will at last give her address; in which case she makes a very serious mistake, as any lady replying to a communication of such character, giving her name and residence to a stranger, places herself at great disadvantage. Should her communication never be answered, she will feel mortified ever afterwards that she committed the indiscretion of replying to the advertisement at all; and, should the person she addresses prove to be some worthless fellow who may presume to press an acquaintance upon the strength of her reply, it may cause her very serious perplexity and embarrassment. It is clearly evident, therefore, that she should not give her name and address as requested; and yet, as the advertisement may refer to a business matter of importance, or bring about an acquaintance which she will not regret, she may relieve her curiosity on the subject by writing the following note in reply..."
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