# The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness: A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society

**Author:** Florence Hartley
**Tags:** Etiquette for women, Formulas, recipes, etc., Etiquette, Handbooks, manuals, etc.
**Price:** Free
**Formats:** DOCX, EPUB, FB2, PDF, TXT
**Downloads:** 28
**Added:** 10.07.2026
**URL:** https://samolit.com/books/95906

## Description

First published in 1860, this comprehensive guidebook offers a sweeping tour through the social rules that governed the life of a well-bred woman in nineteenth-century polite society. The book moves through chapters on conversation, dress, traveling, and how to behave at a hotel, before turning to the etiquette of evening parties, visiting, morning receptions or calls, and dinner company from both the hostess's and the guest's point of view. Further sections address table manners, conduct in the street, letter writing, deportment, church behavior, and the ballroom, blending practical instruction with moral guidance on courtesy and self-restraint. The author frames the whole project around a simple golden rule of treating others as one would wish to be treated, insisting that true politeness begins with genuine consideration for others rather than mere formality. Alongside its rules of decorum, the volume also touches on beauty recipes and household hints, making it as much a practical domestic reference as a manual of manners. Equal parts historical curiosity and earnest advice, it remains a vivid window into the aspirations, anxieties, and daily rituals of Victorian womanhood, offering modern readers both charm and insight into a vanished code of social grace.