C1847 Etiquette Book | The Ladies Vase Polite Manual for Young Ladies Antique E1217 | Corsets Virtues | The outlet Gilded Age | Pre Civil War

The Ladies Vase or Polite Manual for Young Ladies.

This delightful etiquette book from 1847 (Pre-Civil War) is entitled The Ladies Vase or Polite Manual for Young Ladies. The author is An American Lady. It is very scarce, a little miniature book that could be easily tucked into a vest or skirt pocket. Some of the subjects covered are below, as well as the hair, dress, corsets, gentlemen, friendship, conversation, egotism, letter writing, marriage, and flowers. Please keep in mind all the pages do have crisp focus, it's just my camera making the photo a bit fuzzy. Many of our Victorian books are now shown on The Gilded Age, HBO TV series! If you need it, Etsy's Klarna payment service is available at checkout, where you can get immediate ship, with 4 interest-free payments.

Inside, the Contents include:

Politeness.

True and false politeness.

Importance of good manners.

Self possession.

Good company.

Friendship.

Kindred hearts.

Conversation.

Exaggeration.

Egotism.

Gentleness

Sisterly Virtues.

Home.

Fireside influence.

Personal appearance: the teeth, the hair, the hands.

Dress.

Compression of the Lungs.

Letter writing.

Music.

Flowers.

Time.

Novel reading.

Female Romance.

Behavior to Gentlemen.

Marriage.

Marriage hymn.

Female Influence.

A difficult question.

Easily decided.

Influence of Christianity on women.

Importance of Religion to women.

The “Compression of the Lungs”, or outlet the wearing of the corset reads: “Few circumstances are more injurious to beauty than the constrained movement, suffused complexion, and labored respiration that betray tight lacing….that pulmonary disease, affections of the heart, and insanity, are in its train, and that it leads some of our fairest and dearest to Fashion's shrine to die, is placed beyond a doubt by strong medical testimony…” Even as early as before the Civil War, the corset was found the be the cause of many illnesses in women.

On “Behavior to Gentlemen”: What a pity it is that the thousandth chance of a gentlemen's becoming your lover should deprive you of the pleasure of a free, unembarrassed, intellectual intercourse with all the single men of your acquaintance! Yet, such is too commonly the case with young ladies who have read a great many novels and romances, and who heads are always running on love and lovers”…!

On “Female Romance”: “Romance indeed contributes much to the charm of the female character. Without some degree of it, no woman can be interesting; and, though its excess is a weakness, and one which receives but little indulgence, there is nothing truly generous and disinterested which does not imply its existence. It is that poetry of sentiment which imparts to character or incident something of the beautiful or sublime; which elevates us to a higher sphere; which gives an ardor to affection, and life to thought, a glow to imagination; and which lends so warm and sunny a hue to the portraiture of life, that it ceases to appear the vulgar, and cold, and full, and monotonous reality, which common sense alone would make it.”

The section on the teeth is an interesting one, “A bad breath is such a detestable thing, that it might be a sufficient reason for not marrying a person of otherwise agreeable qualities. Nobody needs to have offensive breath. Charcoal, used as a dentifrice, that is, rubbed on in powder with a brush, is apt to injure the enamel; but a lump of it, held in the mouth, two or three times per week, and slowly chewed, has a wonderful power to preserve the teeth and purify the breath.”

Indeed, the personal appearance was important, as is an excerpt from the Hair section: “One of the most pernicious methods of dressing the hair, at the expense of its health, is by curling. This not only dries up the moisture that circulates through the hairs, but the heat and compression thus used completely prevent proper circulation. When, however, the habit is persisted in, its ill effects may be much obviated by constantly brushing the hair well, and having it frequently cut, by which means the necessary circulation is kept up, and the roots invigorated.”

The book goes on to detail many virtues and vices, including marriage etiquette. This sweet book is a scarce one, and just chock full of all things an 1840's young lady should know to navigate society and its social ladder. It was incumbent upon young women to astutely study and be thoroughly familiar with social etiquette, or risk being shunned in society.

This brown hardbound book has a gilt flower cartouche on the cover, with a gilt decorated spine. The frontispiece has an engraving of two young ladies with roses and leaves around them, as well as a depiction of ladies in veiled hats riding horses. All the pages are gilt tipped, the text block firm. There are a couple penciled names on the endpapers. The cover board corners are turned it a little bit, but are still square and no fabric wear. The spine has a little wear mostly at the top, as is customary for a book Pre Civil War. Its actually quite amazing this little gem even exists! It doesn't appear that this book was used much at all, as the text block is very clean, with minimum foxing and use marks. The back has scuffing, and is blindstamped with the same recessed cover pattern. The tissue covering the frontis illustration is half missing, probably torn out long ago for a note, and a few pages inside have the corner turned back, most likely at a favorite passage. Inside was tucked a CDV photo of two little girls, one carrying a flower basket, c1850-60, also in VG condition. All in all, a superb reference source for ladies etiquette of the period, and a sweet gift item. Overall size is aprox 3 x 4.5 inches, 140 pages on a heavier stock. Use Klarna at checkout for immediate ship, and 4 interest-free payments.

Do use the zoom feature to see details better. If you would like this sent USPS Priority Mail, convo us, and we can change the postage. We estimate postage as best as we can; however, Etsy's postage calculator can often be a little off, so keep in mind that postage overages are always cheerfully refunded after checkout. Combined shipping.
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