—– Etiquette for the Ladies. Eighty Maxims on Dress, Manners, and Accomplishments. With an Appendix on the Etiquette of a Court Levee. London David Bogue. 1844

Small 8vo., 85 x 123mm; publisher’s ribbed pinkish-brown cloth blocked in blind and gilt, sewn, pp. [v], 6-63 + [i] + 8, publisher’s catalogue; with engraved title vignette; an attractive copy, externally rubbed and lightly spotted and marked, tiny nick to spine heel, internally with minimal foxing and a couple of small brown spots but tight and crisp.

Twenty-ninth edition, as stated on the title-page. First published by Charles Tilt in 1837. An instructive manual for the upwardly mobile: “Scarcely anything is so repulsive in a lady – so utterly plebeian, as speaking in a loud harsh voice. As in Shakespeare’s time, a “small” voice is still considered ‘an excellent thing in a woman’” and “When asked by any of the company to take wine during dinner, compliance is essential. To refuse would be considered rude and outré.”