What the Butler Saw: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem

Turner, E. S.

ISBN 10: 0141390832 / ISBN 13: 9780141390833

Published by Penguin Global, 2005

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.1DY8R

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What the Butler Saw: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem
• Publisher: Penguin Global
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141390832
• ISBN 13: 9780141390833
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

This is a lively foray into a world where a gentleman with £2,000 a year was betraying his class if he did not employ six females and five males; where a lady could go to the grave without ever having picked up a nightdress, carried her prayer book or made a pot of tea. It is the story of the housekeeper and the butler, the cook, the lady's maid, the valet and the coachman. Their duties are described in detail, and the story is told of the strife and even pitched battles that ensued between servants and the served. Here is social history from a fascinating angle, packed with droll information lightly handled, with many a moral for our own times.

From the Publisher

In the 18th century, a gentleman who employed fewer than a dozen servants was seen to be betraying his class, and a lady could go to her grave without ever having picked up her nightdress or made a cup of tea. Along with the drudgery, servants had to put up with blows from their masters and tantrums from their mistresses, while even in the most respectable homes, pretty servant girls found their virtue in danger. From the upper echelons of the 18th century butler to the downtrodden housemaid of the 19th century, from the elegant footman to the liberated au pair, What the Butler Saw, originally published in Britain in 1962, is a revealing look at the upstairs/downstairs relationship.