OP: Everyday Etiquette

The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1907. Hardcover. Very Good.

Alluding to the general shifting of populations from rural settings to cities in the late-19th and early-20th century, Marion Harland (one of many pen names taken by Virginia-born Mary Virginia Terhune [1830–1922]) and her co-author and daughter Virginia Van de Water (1865–1945) discovered a growing need for applying polish to the social habits of those born into humble circumstances.

Both authors’ experience and success as novelists benefit their non-fiction prose, as well. They write with deftness, lyricism, and, sometimes, sarcastic humor, which brings a welcomed levity to an otherwise buttoned-up subject matter: “Some wit said that man’s only excuse for non-attendance [of a previously accepted invitation] is his death, in which case he should send his obituary notice as an explanation."

Advice ranges from letter writing and hosting dinner parties to children’s allowances and the education of young girls—both of which, it is argued, foster independence and self-sufficiency. Other subjects include sportsmanship, boarding house life, and budgeting for regular charitable donations.

Overall, an engaging peek into the social concerns of not the uppermost socioeconomic echelons but of the urbanizing working and middle classes. One of the scarcer Harland titles–-written as Marion Harland’s Complete Etiquette on the cover but as Everyday Etiquette on the title page. Our copy bears an occasional blemish, tear, or crease but is largely clean. Sturdily bound in a handsome blue cloth case with decorations.