Victorian Table Etiquette

Just in case you wanted a refresher on vintage table manners, here's some pointers from a 1890 Victorian cookbook:

The source of all good manners is a nice perception of , and kind consideration for, not only the rights, but the feelings of others.  The customs of society are adopted and observed to enable us to be more agreeable.  And nowhere is the distinction between gentleman and the boor more marked than at the table.

• Once sated at the table. gloves are drawn off and laid in the lap under the napkin, which is spread lightly, not tucked in.
• Soup is always served for the first course, and it should be eaten with dessert spoons, and taken from the sides, not the tips of them, without any sounds of the lips, and not sucked into the mouth audibly from the ends of the spoon. 
• Sit upright at the table, without bending over or lowering your head to partake of your food.  Do not sit too far away or too near the table, and do not sit with one arm lying on the table with your back half-turned to your left hand neighbor.
• Then one who serves at the table should not help too abundantly, or flood the food with gravies, as many do not like them, and it is better to allow each guest to help himself.  Water should be poured to the right of a person - everything else is passed to the left.  Do not watch the dishes while being uncovered or talk with your mouth full.  If you discover anything objectionable in the food, do not attract the attention of others to it, but quietly deposit it under the edge of your plate.
• One's teeth are never picked at the table; but if it is impossible to hinder it, it should be done behind the napkin

• Let the food be taken to the mouth, and not the mouth to the food.
• At the conclusion of a course, where they have been used, a knife and fork should be laid side by side across the middle of the plate - never crossed - with handles to the right.  The servant should offer everything at the left of the guest, that the guest may be at liberty to use the right hand, except water, which is poured at the right side.
• When you rise from your chair, leave it where it stands.     

Vintage Cookbooks

I was never a history buff, but I love finding vintage cookbooks! They put the past in perspective from the kitchen point-of-view.  I dug out my collection of American Cookery magazines yesterday and thought I would share some of the recipes... like this one for Ginger Cookies. Enjoy!

 

Ginger Cookies without Molasses

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoonful soda

1 tablespoonful ginger

Cream the butter; beat in the sugar, then the flour sifted with the soda and ginger.  Stir in as much more flour as can be stirred in easily with a spoon.  With floured hands, roll the dough into marble shapes, and set these in a buttered pan some distance apart.  Bake to a light brown color.

Page 215 - From the October 1917 issue of American Cookery formerly The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics

www.TimelessVintageAttic.etsy.com

Love Vintage Books

Up early this morning to check on an estate sale in the neighborhood.  It's an overcast morning, and early so I really could have stayed in bed, but what the heck!  One sign on the street corner pointed out the sale, and they had box after box of "stuff" mixed with old books and magazines.  I found some nice old cookbooks and magazines from the 40's. 

Sharing

Today I decided that this blog would have a bit more structure to it than I had originally planned. At first I was just going to post some of my recent purchases and maybe some “here’s what I’ve been researching” entries, but really, how boring is that! 

 

So last night I remembered that year’s ago, when my mom was going though treatment for cancer, we talked about how many adventures we had antiquing, and how she should write some of them down. And she did. It was a great distraction for us both. I would play “editor” and mom was the writer.  Mom and I had shared years of hunting for antiques on family vacations with my brother (an antique lover as well), and now we enjoyed spending time putting some of those memories down on paper. Mom completed her book of antiquing, and left this world about a year after that. Much, much too soon. When I read over the stories she wrote, I feel as if we are on our adventures again. I can say that my love for my mom will forever be bound by our shared love of finding the next great antique.

 

I will be posting some of mom’s stories on this blog. They are treasures in themselves, and they were always meant to be shared.

To read more, click on the page tab Antiquing- The Road to Adventure at the top of the blog.

 

A Blog....Really?

Exactly. I have no time to blog, but I'm going to try and commit myself to at least a weekly posting of the things I've found, and of the information I've learned. Since I've decided to get back to selling antiques after a 15 year break (really, has it been that long?), this is a good way to knock the dust off my writing skills to. 


I have my on-line shop up and running at www.TimelessVintageTable.etsy.com
Stop by and visit, and Happy Antiquing!  ♡ Deb