The Book of Good Manners: A Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions

Green, Walter Cox, 1866-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.6

Word count: 308K words
Chapters: 31

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Book of Good Manners; a Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions by GreenAuthor: Green, Walter Cox, 1866-,Language: English, Class: BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is a social etiquette guide written between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Walter Cox Green systematically sets out the rules of courtesy and conduct expected in the social occasions of the period, covering how to behave at a wide range of gatherings. As a public-domain e-text, its primary value is historical: readers can see the specific expectations of a particular era regarding manners, forms of address, and occasion-specific etiquette, and thereby understand how the norms of social interaction change over time. The entries are clear and direct, suited to consultation rather than continuous reading. Note that many of the rules carry obvious period limitations and differ from contemporary social attitudes; read them with a historical eye, as a window onto the social culture of an earlier age rather than a handbook to be followed literally. For readers interested in the history of etiquette and social customs, the book offers detailed firsthand material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of modern Western social etiquette and customs
Those who need to consult old etiquette rules as material for writing or research
Learners of English as a foreign language who want a clearly organized, practical English text
Readers who collect and browse public-domain historical e-books

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking contemporary social guidance or rules to apply directly
Readers expecting a continuous narrative or a literary reading experience
Beginners with weak English who need etiquette material in Chinese

Reading tips

There is no need to read from cover to cover; look up the chapters matching the type of social occasion.
Note passages that differ markedly from contemporary etiquette as you read, building your own comparative notes.
Read alongside sources on the social customs of the same period to understand the context behind the rules.
For the English original, skim the table of contents first to get a sense of the overall structure, then select specific entries.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are the etiquette rules in this book still applicable today?

The book reflects social standards of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some principles, such as respecting others, remain relevant, but many specific practices have changed with the times. Read it as historical material rather than a guide to contemporary behavior.

Is this book suitable for reading from cover to cover?

Not really. It is organized by entries and types of occasion, so it is better suited to consultation. Reading it straight through can feel repetitive; start with the table of contents and choose the chapters on social situations that interest you.

How much English is needed to read the original?

The text consists mainly of explanatory entries in relatively direct sentences, so a reader with intermediate English can consult it with the help of a dictionary. For research purposes, it is advisable to have background material on etiquette and customs at hand.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Green, Walter Cox, 1866- Author · 1866

Walter Cox Green (born 1866) is an author whose birth and death years appear in bibliographic records, while the rest of his life is known only from limited public sources. Only one work can be confirmed, The Book of Good Manners: A Guide to Polite Usage for All Social Functions. Judging by its title and subject, the book addresses etiquette for a variety of social occasions and belongs to the practical conduct-guide genre popular in the English-speaking world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such works typically explain forms of address, entertaining, letter writing, and calling in an itemized, scenario-based manner, in plain language that stresses usability and example for readers navigating weddings, funerals, dinners, and social gatherings. The book's specific contents, editions, and later influence are difficult to detail given the limited sources, and no other writings or public activities by Green have been recorded. He is therefore best regarded cautiously as one compiler of practical etiquette literature, and his work as a reference for observing the social manners and behavioral norms of his time.