Originally published in 1827, Roberts’ Guide for Butlers and Other Household Staff was a handbook for servants to perform their duties more efficiently and thoughtfully. Roberts gives a plethora of information about household duties of a butler like: • How to dress suitably for work • Regulations for the dinner table • Directions for cleaning tea trays • Giving Britannia metal a brilliant polish • Preserving fruits for the year • Addressing and behaving properly around your employer • And many more insights Roberts provides information on how to make the best-tasting lemonade; preserving good wine for years; not passing judgments on the other servants; never letting your master ring the bell for you twice; cleaning dirty tables with a mix of milk, turpentine, and sweet oil; rubbing off rust with salad oil and lime; and other useful tidbits for the curious butler. This is a fascinating look behind the scenes of household help and will delight any nineteenth century enthusiast.

Full of humor and wit, this book was offered in 1827 in order that servants be given a handbook by which they might more efficiently perform the duties for which they were being paid.

The House Servant's Directory or a monitor for private families comprising hints on the arrangement and performance of servants' work, with general rules for setting out tables and sideboards. In first order; The art of waiting in all its branches and likewise how to conduct large and small parties with order; with general directions for placing on table all kinds of joints, fish, fowl, etc with full instructions for cleaning plate, brass, steel, glass, mahogany and likewise all kinds of patent and common lamps: observations on servants' behaviour to their employers and upwards of 100 various and useful receipts chiefly compiled for the use of house servants, and identically made to suit the manners and customs of families in the United States

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1827 Edition.

"In order to get through your work in proper time, you should make it your chief study to rise early in the morning; for an hour before the family rises is worth more to you than two after they are up." So begins Robert Roberts' The House Servant's Directory, first published in 1827 and the standard for household management for decades afterward. A classic survey of work, home life, and race relations in early America, the book was the result of many years of Roberts' personal and professional experiences. One of the first books written by an African-American and published by a commercial press, this manual for butlers and waiters offers keen insight into the social milieu, hierarchy, and maintenance of the antebellum manor. As a servant to a prominent New England family, Roberts provided valuable insights into what was expected of domestic servants. His book contains an abundance of instructions for successfully completing household chores as well as suggestions for properly cleaning furniture and clothing; and for buying, preparing, and serving food and drink for dinner parties of all sizes (much of which is still useful information today). The text also contains suggestions for arranging servants' work routines, and advice to heads of families on how best to manage their domestic help -- extraordinary recommendations for master-servant relationships and highly unusual for the time. Among the most famous of etiquette books to provide instruction on proper behavior for domestic servants in the early nineteenth century, Roberts' Directory remains a critical primary source in sociology and African-American history.

The House Servant's Directory or a monitor for private families comprising hints on the arrangement and performance of servants' work, with general rules for setting out tables and sideboards. In first order The art of waiting in all its branches and likewise how to conduct large and small parties with order with general directions for placing on table all kinds of joints, fish, fowl, etc with full instructions for cleaning plate, brass, steel, glass, mahogany and likewise all kinds of patent and common lamps: observations on servants' behaviour to their employers and upwards of 100 various and useful receipts chiefly compiled for the use of house servants, and identically made to suit the manners and customs of families in the United States

A wonderfully entertaining vintage manual written in 1827--from how to properly clean furniture to preparing for a party Are you performing your household duties efficiently and cheerfully? If the answer is no, fear not! Robert Roberts' carefully observed collection of tips and advice will turn you into a model of domestic perfection. Learn how to restore carpets to their first bloom, how best to clean shoes and boots, the ideal technique to remove flies from a room, a trick to take ink spots out of mahogany, and how to make liquid currant jam of the first quality. Full of humor and wit, this 1827 handbook also offers a fascinating insight into the social milieu of a bygone age. One of the first commercially written books by an African-American published in the U.S., this manual remains as informative as it is useful and entertaining.

A Study Guide for Kazuo Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day, The (Lit-to-Film)," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

Robert Roberts' The House Servant's Directory, first published in 1827 and the standard for household management for decades afterward, is remarkable for several reasons: It is one of the first books written by an African American and issued by a commercial press, and it was written while Roberts (ca. 1780-1860) was in the employ of Christopher Gore (1758-1827), a former senator from and governor of Massachusetts (and ancestor of the novelist Gore Vidal). Gore Place, where Roberts worked from 1825 to 1827, is one of the grandest neoclassical mansions built in America. Not only was the extraordinary set of recommendations that Roberts made about relations between servants and their masters unique for its time, but his many recipes for cleaning furniture and clothing and for purchasing, preparing, and serving food and drink for small and large dinners are also still useful today. As portrayed in Graham Hodges' introduction, Roberts' own story is a unique window into the work habits and thoughts of America's domestic workers and into antebellum African American politics. Of particular note is Roberts' contribution to the emergence of new self-perceptions of black manliness. Written at a time when male Americans in general were reconsidering the construction of masculinity, Roberts' advice to his fellow servants fostered black dignity for work that few felt merited respect, and his counsel to employers on proper treatment of their servants insisted on their humanity and respect for their skills.