How to Behave—Though a Debutante by Emily Post
Post, Emily. How to Behave—Though a Debutante. First Edition. 1928. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in good plus condition—jacket shows a 1 3/4-inch chip to the lower spine, which in Mylar, is disguised by a facsimile underlay (see photos). Illustrated by John Held, Jr.
Emily Post first published this book in serial form in Vanity Fair under the pen name Muriel, only disclosing her identity when it was adapted for this book. Meant to be satire, its intentional vulgarity was mistaken for truth. Borrowing from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Post pokes fun at her own book, Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage. It’s Post making fun of herself but also parodying the arrivistes who flout traditional etiquette rules. Quite a hat trick. The jacket, in any condition, is uncommon. This copy, aside from the chip, is in exceptional condition.
“As lots of people think a debutante leads a butterfly life, it would probably be as well to describe an average day. To begin with, you wake up quite early—about nine o’clock.”
--Muriel (a.k.a. Emily Post)