Etiquette of Another Gilded Age Fad

A triangular dining table “brings the entertainers and the entertained nearer together than at the ordinary square or round tables. A single cloth is not used on these triangular tables, but rather narrow scarfs of heavy open work. Between the scarf and the center piece, the space is filled with bonbon and salted almond dishes.”

The Newest Shape at a Feast

There is a new shape for the dinner table —a triangle. The host is seated in the middle of the shortest side and the hostess at the meeting of the two longer ones. This arrangement brings the entertainers and the entertained nearer together than at the ordinary square or round tables. 

A single cloth is not used on these triangular tables, but rather narrow scarfs of heavy open work. Between the scarf and the center piece, the space is filled with bonbon and salted almond dishes. — New York Journal, 1892

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia