THE BEHAVIOUR BOOK: A Manual for Ladies
Leslie, Miss [Eliza].

Philadelphia: Willis P. Hazard, 178 Chestnut Street, 1853. First edition. Presentation copy to her niece, inscribed at the front free endpaper, "Gertrude Leslie / from / Her Aunt Eliza". 16mo, 310pp; neatly rebacked with original red leather label, goldstamped with title and author, at the spine and original red blindstamped boards. Tips worn and somewhat exposed; tip of front free endpaper lacking. Generally very good. Eliza Leslie (1787-1858) was the first American woman to make her living as a writer of cookbooks and according to James Beard "the best cook of her time." Writing for the growing American middle class, Leslie's cookbooks were the first to list ingredients above the recipe and provided clear, precise instructions enabling anyone to cook with reasonable certainty of success. While her culinary titles were her forte, Leslie also produced short stories and advice literature such as THE BEHAVIOUR BOOK which enjoyed great popularity with a number of successive editions. She discusses: Suggestions to Visitors; The Visited; Tea Visitors; The Entree; Introductions; Conduct in the Street; Shopping; Places of Amusement; Travelling; Deportment at a Hotel; Hotel Dinner; Ship-Board; Letters; Presents; Conversation; Incorrect Words; Borrowing; Offences; Obligations to Gentlemen; Conduct to Literary Women; Suggestions to Inexperienced Authors; Children; Decorum in Church; and, Miscellanies. (Item ID: 14814)

$275.00