10 July 2013

The Duties of Servants

Author: Jan Barnes, original unknown
Year published: Originally in the 1870s, reprint from 1993
Pages: 128
Time It Took To Read: Not long


I read on the toilet and have a selection of books installed there, for when my usual fare is just not bog-worthy. You know you do too, stop judging me. Anyway, I'm currently wading through a fascinating, but deeply depressing book on the Russian revolution, and that's not good toilet reading. THIS however, was PERFECT.
It was originally published in the late 1870s, as a guide for employers of servants. It has a guide to wages, advice on hiring (don't hire married men, they might steal your brandy), and an outline of duties for each servant. It covers the very largest households, and the legion of servants expected, down to the family with just a parlourmaid. It has some GEMS of information, like how to talk about food with your cook without annoying her, and how to cope with SLATTERNS. It's not a very substantial book, but if you like Downton (I don't), or that period of history (I do), or social history (yup), you'll get something out of it.

Book count:30/50

I've also been re-reading some Bill Bryson books - Neither Here Nor There and Notes From A Small Island. That man is a GENIUS.

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