Mind Your Manors
Tried-and-True British Household Cleaning Tips
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The author of Servants tells us what made British households, of all sizes, shine.
British estates were known to be the epitome of cleanliness with their white-glove perfection. Through her meticulous research on servants, Lucy Lethbridge gleaned much knowledge about how these homes were made to gleam over almost two centuries, from the Victorian through the Edwardian years and beyond. The majority of household tasks were done with basic ingredients like lemon juice, white vinegar, and bicarbonate of soda, which feel very modern in their display of frugality and ecological soundness. Tea leaves were used to freshen up rugs and stewed rhubarb to remove rust stains. Here, Lethbridge reveals these old-fashioned and almost-forgotten techniques that made British households sparkle before the use of complicated contraptions and a spray for every surface. A treasury of advice from servants’ memoirs and housekeeping guides, and illustrated with charming art from period advertising and domestic classics, Mind Your Manors is the perfect book for all those who want to put time-tested cleaning methods to work.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eschewing modern conveniences, Lethbridge (Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times) evokes early Downton Abbey in this elegant collection of entertaining tips culled from decades of the care of elegant English homes, dating from the Victorian through the Edwardian years. She tackles the obvious chores of a certain day and age with panache and charming illustrations, opening with how to stock the cupboard. Every country house featured a brushing room devoted to giving woolens a good beating. Kitchen items such as salt and vinegar were key to a clean home, as well as foodstuffs such as onions and bread. Soap a concoction of lye and fat became popularly available in the 1890s. It wouldn't be England without tea, and used leaves were recycled to remove dirt from the Axminster carpets. While some information is useful today (newspapers will polish windows to a high gloss), most of Lethbridge's book is fun trivia meant to liven up the mundanity of housework in thought rather than practice. Color illus.
