The House Servant's Directory: Or a Monitor for Private Familes: Comprising Hints on the Arrangement and Performance of Servants' Work

By Robert Roberts and Roberts Robert Servant

Book Overview

An annotated introduction exploring the contemporary importance of the book "The House Servants Directory", the identity and character of the author, and its significance in American history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076560115X
• ISBN13: 9780765601155
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Be the best Butler you can be!

Do you know how to clean plate and silver wear? How to set up the dining room table? Make sure the tea set is ready for the mistress of the house? Which hard coal is the best one to use? How to prepare fish, fowl or mammals to be carved? How to make the best beer, lemonade and cooling cinnamon water? Well, this book is the answer to your dreams. Just don't use quick silver.

A slice of history with possible use today

I bought this book both as a training guide for my own servants and as a bit of historical research into butlers. Published in 1827 originally this book is a look into the lives of an upper class American family through the eyes of their butler. He covers everything you can image from claening to serving meals to appropriate dress to a philosophical discussion of the roles of servant and employers.

A Piece of Social History

I worked at Gore Place as an intern in college, where Robert Roberts worked. Many don't realize that this is often credited as the first book published in the US by an African-American. Insight into the labors of a butler in the early republic, of interest to those who are curious about lives of Af-Ams of the era, even though his race is never mentioned in the book.