Deportment for Dukes and Tips for Toffs

Emily Post certainly didn’t invent etiquette—its history spans many centuries. From the prehistoric era to the Middle Ages to the royal French court, wherever and whenever mankind has existed and interacted, the need for basic guidelines regarding appropriate conduct has quickly followed. During the Victorian era, the rules of etiquette found their way into countless guidebooks offering men, women, and children tips for avoiding vulgarity and other offenses.

           

First published in 1900, Deportment for Dukes and Tips for Toffs is a satirical take on the Victorian book of etiquette. The treatise is written for “those moving in the highest social circles” and offers tips for behaving properly as a guest at the home of an aristocrat. For example, in the section entitled “The Journey,” the authors advise: “Avoid the vulgar and objectionable habit of conversing with your fellow travelers. Be on your guard when asked a civil question; if you cannot answer rudely, do not reply at all.” And in “At the Breakfast Table,” they warn readers not to be like “the fumigated stockbrocker who recently lost a peerage on the very morning of the purchase through being merely two or three hours late for the Prime Ministerial omelette.” Other areas of advice covered are the dinner table, hunting, shooting, ballroom comportment, the precedence of personages, conversation de société, and the whole duty of the gentleman.

           

This new edition of Deportment for Dukes and Tips for Toffs, the first published since its original appearance, will be as humorously indispensable to the modern aristocrat as it was over one hundred years ago.