Female Servant's Advisor, The.
Instruction Manual for Female Servants
[Domestic]. The Female Servant’s Adviser. Or the Service Instructor; containing, among other useful and necessary instruction…Illustrated with plates, exhibiting the methods of setting out dinner tables, etc. London: Printed for Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, [1830].
12mo.; oversize fold-out frontispiece diagram of two table settings; advertisement in the rear for other domestic titles; some leaves misbound (pp. 11-12, 35-38, 107-108, and 111-112); scattered foxing; green cloth, rebacked; printed green label affixed to the front cover; stained and worn. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition of a charming instruction manual for female housekeepers, maids, laundresses, and cooks. Five leaves appear out of sequence and the errors are noted in ink on the top of each out-of-place page (“This leaf wants to be one forward”). Written so that female servants may “perform the various occupations of service in an efficient and satisfactory manner, and be informed of the methods of occasioning large savings in the management and use of their employer’s property and provisions,” the book is organized into 11 chapters, which are listed on the title page. One-page ad in the rear contains titles of other “useful and necessary” works, such as The Housekeeper’s Safeguard and The Catechism of the Church of England.
The Female Servant’s Adviser contains maxims to live by in order to secure a successful career in domestic service. On the topic of personal behavior, maids are advised to be discreet (“Take care that you do not divulge the affairs, secrets, or connexions [sic] of the family to any person,” [p. 22]), and demure (“On all necessary occasions, avoid, as much as possible, being alone with the other sex…never suffer any one to transgress the strictest rules of modesty, in lending you, or reading to you, loose books, or by unseemly jokes, or by taking liberties, or romping” [p. 27]). Practical suggestions for effective house-cleaning are also provided, as well as instructions on how to best serve and prepare various foods and beverages. The final section, “The Law of Master and Servant,” outlines servants’ rights and acceptable punishments for servants caught “offering false characters” (p. 118).
Scarce; OCLC locates four copies.
(#10561)
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