The Complete Gentleman

Traces the development in England of the modern gentleman from the Tudor to the Edwardian period, and describes the standards, social conventions, and cultural heritage of that priviledged class

If a good man is hard to find, rarer still is a gentleman. This is a study of those rituals and conventions, attitudes and behavior, from Tudor times through the Edwardian era, that shaped a privileged lifestyle that has had a lasting effect upon social life in England and in America. Tracing the evolution of this unique institution from noble birth and upbringing, through education, the Grand Tour, marriage and domesticity, professional life and its responsibilities, to the final vision of death and its formal trappings, Beard has created a fascinating blend of scholarly research, anecdotal material, and a wealth of elegant illustrations to define this rapidly vanishing species. Social history at its most charming.
- Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.