Emily Post's Etiquette

The edition in the link is the one I am holding as I type this. I also have editions from the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's as well as a bunch of other etiquette books from different eras. The current volume is useful for adressing invitations (Dear Madam Ambassador) and giving hints on tipping. Old volumes can tell you how to have a dinner for twelve with only two live in servants, what to wear for tennis (white flannel) and how to conduct yourself if invited to a West Point "hop" by a cadet (don't aske for a miniature of his ring, you're proposing!!) I love the look into a very privledged (or social climbing) past that these books give and how they all in time, become historic documents. Someday the "Ten Rules of E-mail" will be as obsolete as telegraph etiquette.