Etiquette for Edwardian Receptions

     

Will you kindly inform me the proper thing to do at a reception? Should I leave my calling card? What should be served? – S. A. B.

Greet your hostess, be served to refreshments, leave your card and take your departure, is about the prescribed formula for an afternoon reception. 

Tea, coffee, chocolate, sandwiches, wafers, nuts and bonbons, salad, and sherbet of ice cream are the usual refreshments served in the dining room. Two or more ladies, generally intimate friends of the hostess, “pour,” with one or two waiters assisting in the service.– From Madame Merri, 1912

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

Breakfast Party Etiquette of 1912

Giving a breakfast in 1912 was more like hosting a “brunch” in 2024. These breakfasts could last a few hours and have elaborate entertainment, with a quartet of musicians, or something more along the lines of a simple harpist. The menu should suit the formality of the occasion, however, and as Saratoga Chips (aka potato chips) were still a trendy novelty at the time, Etiquipedia supposes that including them in the menu then would certainly be amusing, but would most definitely raise her eyebrows at seeing them served at brunch or a formal breakfast in 2024.
– Above, 2 Gilded Age Saratoga Chip Servers from the book, “What Have We Here? The Etiquette and Essentials of Lives Once Lived, from the Georgian Era through the Gilded Age and Beyond...” One sterling, with a matte gilded bowl and the other, sterling silver without protective gilding. ~ Image source, Etiquipedia Private Library

Hosting an Entertaining Breakfast

Would you kindly give a few suggestions as to the menu and entertainment suitable for a breakfast for about 25 young ladies? This is for no special occasion, but I wish something a little different. – A FOLLOWER

For so many guests you will probably seat them at small tables. It would be pretty to have a different color of candle and flowers at each table. Serve first a chilled fruit mixture, chicken and mushroom patties, Saratoga potatoes, tiny hot, buttered biscuit, olives, salted nuts, radishes. Asparagus salad or tomatoes stuffed with shrimps,

A strawberry mousse, with small cakes or a tutti-frutti ice cream makes an acceptable finish. Grape juice, iced tea or coffee may be the choice of beverages, with a cordial. Afterward have a reading or a short musical programme. Perhaps you have some friend who is clever enough to entertain with personal reminiscences of some unique or interesting experience in travel at home or abroad.– From Madame Merri, 1912

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

Etiquette and “Polite Notes”

Letters of congratulation are always acceptable, enhancing whatever the good fortune may be by sharing with one’s friends.

Will you kindly advise the custom concerning letters of condolence and congratulation? Should letters be sent only to friends out of town, or may they be used between friends in the same city? Are letters of condolence better than a call? – ANXIOUS

Letters of condolence are always proper, no matter whether to a person living out of town or in one’s home city. A card with the word “sympathy” or “to inquire” left at the house of mourning is always good form, for, of course, only the nearest and dearest friends see a bereaved family; but afterward they look at the cards and letters and deeply appreciate all who have thought of them in their sorrow. 

Letters of congratulation are always acceptable, enhancing whatever the good fortune may be by sharing with one’s friends. The good book says “rejoice with those who do rejoice and weep with those who mourn,” or words to that effect, and it is a pretty good maxim to follow.– From Madame Merri, 1912 

 

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

Soup and Sandwich Etiquette

Bouillon is taken from a spoon except the last few swallows which may be taken from the cup by lifting with one of the handles and rising the cup to the lips.

The Proper Thing to Do

Kindly tell me the proper way of eating a club sandwich in a restaurant, also whether bouillon is sipped from the cup or eaten with a spoon? —Country Girl.

A club sandwich is eaten with a fork, the toast, if very dry, may be broken and eaten with the fingers. Bouillon is taken from a spoon except the last few swallows which may be taken from the cup by lifting with one of the handles and rising the cup to the lips. — Madame Merri, 1912

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

To Remove or Not: Glove Etiquette

Heavy, soiled gloves are not held to the same standards as fashionable gloves. Different rules apply. – Image source, Etiquipedia private library

Q. Is it necessary to remove the glove before shaking hands? Are there certain occasions when this is or is not necessary?- From "Waiting"

A. If a man should be working and have on heavy soiled gloves he should remove them before shaking hands, otherwise it is not necessary.

– By Madame Merri, 1912

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