The Book of Etiquette

YvonneProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 74K words
Chapters: 8

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.Het boek der Etiquette by YvonneAuthor: Yvonne,Language: Dutch, Class: BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion, Release Date: Aug 10, 2011

Editor's review

This is an etiquette guide written in Dutch, attributed to an author named Yvonne and included in a public-domain ebook project as a work of social manners. It discusses the rules of courtesy in everyday interaction: forms of address, letters, visits, table manners and conduct in public, and bears clear marks of its era. For today's readers its value lies not in copying its rules but in observing, through concrete prescriptions, how a society defined the proper and the improper, and in understanding the principles of respect and consideration behind etiquette. The text consists mostly of itemized advice in plain language; it suits language learners as extensive reading material and readers interested in modern European social culture. Read it for its spirit rather than its forms, and keep a critical eye on its plainly outdated assumptions about gender and class.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Dutch learners who want to build everyday expressions through practical, itemized texts
Readers interested in modern European social etiquette and the history of daily life
Readers who need to understand traditional etiquette frameworks for comparative cultural study
Casual readers who like dipping into short entries without seeking systematic theory

Not a good fit for

Readers who do not know Dutch and have no parallel translation available
Readers seeking a contemporary guide to business or cross-cultural etiquette
Readers sensitive to class and gender assumptions who may be offended by old-fashioned rules

Reading tips

Skim the table of contents first and start with chapters relevant to your own life, such as letters, visits and table manners
Record outdated rules side by side with contemporary practice to form a comparison list
Dutch learners can read a short section each day, note polite expressions and imitate them in sentences
After finishing, write a short review stating which principles still apply and which are mere products of their time

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

Is this book suitable for learning modern etiquette by following it?

Not for copying. Many of its rules carry clear period and class baggage and are remote from contemporary social settings. A better use is to treat it as material for observing how ideas of etiquette changed, extract its principles of respect, consideration and tact, and apply them flexibly to present-day situations.

Can I read this book without knowing Dutch?

The original is in Dutch, so reading it without Dutch will be difficult. You can work through it paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, or look for a parallel translation. If you are only interested in the topic of etiquette, you may first read Chinese or English works on the same subject and then return to the specific entries here.

Is the book's structure suited to reading from cover to cover?

It consists mostly of itemized advice, and the chapters do not depend heavily on one another, so strict sequential reading is unnecessary. Start with the table of contents and select topics such as letters, visits or table manners; for language learning, read in small amounts, repeatedly, with note-taking and imitation exercises.

Comments

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About the author

Yvonne Author

Yvonne is an author about whom little public information is available; the library currently holds only one work under this name, Het boek der Etiquette (The Book of Etiquette). Judging from the Dutch title, the book takes etiquette as its subject and is likely addressed to general readers, covering standards of behavior, ceremonial conventions, and social customs in everyday interaction—placing it within practical lifestyle writing. Since the author's dates, nationality, education, and writing career cannot be verified, this introduction makes no speculation about personal biography. On the available evidence, Yvonne's profile as a writer rests on this single work: clear in subject, practical in aim, and organized around norms and customs. Readers may regard the author as one whose entry into Chinese-language view comes through the theme of etiquette, while a fuller picture of the writing and its influence must await further public information.