Nouveau manuel complet de la bonne compagnie, ou Guide de la politesse et de la bienséance destiné à tous les âges et à toutes les conditions.

Nouveau manuel complet de la bonne compagnie, ou Guide de la politesse et de la bienséance destiné à tous les âges et à toutes les conditions. New edition, enlarged and entirely recast by Mme Celnart. Mme CELNART Pen name of Madame Élisabeth-Félicie Bayle-Mouillard (1796-1865). Paris, Librairie encyclopédique de Roret, 1845. 16mo (14.5 x 9.5 cm), 246 pp., complete with its frontispiece. Contemporary binding in marbled boards, speckled edges, smooth spine. Headcaps and corners in good condition. Little foxing. Remains of an old title label on the spine. Small restoration p. 127. A fine copy of this famous 19th-century manual of etiquette. Published in the Manuels-Roret series, this work by Mme Celnart constitutes a testimony to the customs, proprieties and social codes of French society in 1845. A true treatise of modern civility, it sets out the rules of conversation, visits, meals, family ceremonies, social relations and the duties attached to each social condition. Beyond its practical interest, this volume today offers a glimpse of the daily life, mentalities and bourgeois ideal of respectability of the mid-19th century.