Hints and Observations Seriously Addressed to Heads of Families, in Reference, Chiefly, to Female Domestic Servants.

Descripción:

A guide for wealthy households on the selection, training, and management of female servants. Henry George Watkins (1765 Ð 1850) stresses the importance of placing high standards on female servants, whose behavior, he believed, contributes to the moral character of a household. ÒThe habits of our domestic female servants require to be as good as possible,Ó he writes. ÒTheir good qualities must be more numerous than those of any other species of servant.Ó While male servants should be allowed freedom and privacy outside work hours, Watkins writes, the moral duties of female servants require higher standards of conduct: ÒIt is absolutely necessary for our safety and repose, that mistresses should have considerable knowledge of [female servantsÕ] minds and manners in their leisure hours, as well as while employed in the especial duties of their station. Hence, all that concerns them mustÉbe subject to a more accurate and rigid scrutiny,Ó (pp. 7-8). Twelvemo. viii, 100 pp. Contemporary half tan calf over marbled boards. Gilt spine. Ink ownership signature (dated 1841); early nineteenth century bookplate of collector Frances, Viscountess Norton (1755 Ð 1841); and modern bookplate of bookseller Peter Stewart Young to front pastedown. Offsetting to preliminary blank. Remarkably fresh throughout. A fine, bright copy. First edition. Reverend Watkins was the rector of St. SwithinÕs Church on Cannon Street in London and the chaplain to the Mayor of London. Through his sermons and by distributing tracts, he promoted the London Society for the Protection of Female Servants. His other works include Friendly Hints to Female Servants (1814) and the series Sunday School Tracts (1810 Ð 1813). OCLC records only three physical copies: Cambridge, the University of Glasgow, and the Huntington Library. N° de ref. del artículo 17409

Denunciar este artículo