Product Description

The art of being a good wife is not an easy one. This little guide was written for the middle classes of the 1930s who were reading one of the first modern self-help books.Illustrated with contemporary line-drawings, it contains advice by turns delightfully arcane and timelessly true, for example: it is a wife's duty to look her best - if you don't tidy yourself up, when you have done the bulk of the day's work, don't be surprised if your husband begins to compare you unfavourably with the typist at the office; don't forget that a wife can always set the standard of behaviour for the home - if she allows laxities of dress or conversation at the table she will soon find that they become a fixed procedure; don't forget that very true remark that while face powder may catch a man, baking powder is the stuff to hold him; and, don't criticise the food at your own table when you are entertaining and especially refrain from doing so before the servants. After all is said and done, husbands are not terribly difficult to manage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65722 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Highly amusing
"When being driven in a car, do not take it upon yourself to tell the driver how to drive. Your suggestions will very likely only upset him, and may lead to a serious accident. Leave him to do his job, and don't interfere."

Highly amusing little book - written in all seriousness in 1936 but very Cholmondley-Warner-esque in its outdated attitudes. This book provided many wonderful gems (including the above sample) for some light-hearted ribbing in my groom's speech when I got married.

Note that this book is clearly based on the earlier Don'ts for Wives, rewording the material of that work whilst adding some new stuff, so there is a lot of duplication between the two. The versions in the older work tend to be more amusing to my taste however - the versions in this newer book sometimes seem a little clumsy through having been reworded simply for the sake of rewording. It's definitely worth having both though.