Beadle's Dime Book of Etiquette

This issue of Beadle's Dime Book of Etiquette (revised and enlarged edition, published 118 William Street, New York, copyrighted 1880) is a practical guide to social conduct. The manual addresses both sexes, covering entrance into society, visiting etiquette, dress and ornaments, conversation, letter-writing, balls and evening parties, card games, dinner parties, street behavior, business deportment, courtship and marriage, horseback riding, home life, invitations, and ice-skating manners. The introduction emphasizes that politeness and gentlemanly/ladylike conduct rest on the Golden Rule. A lengthy cautionary anecdote depicts "Falconbridge," a nervous young man whose entry into society becomes a comic disaster—he places his hat on the piano, crushes it, tears Miss Degrand's dress dancing, breaks an astral lamp, and finally collapses unconscious in a darkened hallway—illustrating the consequences of entering society uninformed and bashful. The work instructs readers that early social experience builds confidence and prevents such failures.