“Manners For Men” is detailed guidance on behavior in the obsessively class-conscious late Victorian age, where a small mistake in manners could turn into a social failure. C. E. Humphry, the columnist of “Girl's Gossip,” is a master of language and subtle irony. Thanks to her talents, this book is very readable and entertaining, even for a contemporary reader not interested in learning the rules of social behavior in the 19th century. Yet, at the time of publishing, the book was highly informative for a contemporary. It describes various situations like a trip in the omnibus, visiting a mass or a formal dinner, or even walking down the street.
