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The Glory of Woman: Prescriptive Literature, 1870 - 1879
- All About Everything: being a dictionary of practical recipes and every-day information… London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, [1871].
This impressive volume is a comprehensive guide to every aspect of household management, including the specific duties of servants.
- Chavasse, Pye Henry. Advice to a Wife on the Management of Her Own Health. New York: George Routledge, [1873].
"Every young wife, let her station be ever so exalted, ought to attend to her household duties. Her health, and consequently her happiness, demand the exertion."
- Clarke, Edward H. Sex in Education; or, a fair chance for the girls. Boston: J.R. Osgood and company, 1873.
Clarke argues that "Boys must study and work in a boy's way, and girls in a girl's way." Much of the book is dedicated to describing the physiological damage that occurs when women are tested beyond their natural abilities.
- Croly, Jane Cunningham. For Better or Worse: a book for some men and all women. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1875.
"[M]arriage as it exists, is open to criticism, because it places men and women in false positions; and what these positions are, wherein they are false, and how they can be improved, it is the object of [this book] to show."
- Duffey, Eliza Bisbee. What Women Should Know. Philadelphia: J. M. Stoddart & Co., [1873].
This book gives women “a thorough acquaintanceship with the organs and functions of their own bodies,” as well as “a thorough knowledge of the good and evil of the world.” With information on puberty, marriage, pregnancy, women’s diseases, and the moral responsibilities of motherhood.
- Fowler, Charles Henry and W.H. De Puy. Home and Health and Home Economics. New York: Phillips & Hunt, l879.
A “cyclopedia of facts and hints for all departments of home life, health, and domestic economy,” with advice on medical care, family dynamics, servants, household budgets, and meal planning.
- Hamilton, Gail. Woman's Worth and Worthlessness. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872.
Fictional accounts of domestic economy are juxtaposed with dogmatic essays on women’s nature and abilities: “One reason why woman’s work is so little sought and so poorly paid is that it is so good for nothing.”
- Haweis, Mary Eliza Joy. The Art of Beauty. London: Chatto & Windus, 1878.
This beauty manual notes that mothers in particular should work to maintain an attractive appearance: “A Mother may often have more influence with her child by being a graceful and pleasing woman, than by the most admirable virtues combined with a dowdy or slovenly dress.”
- Pansy. Four Girls at Chautauqua. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co., [1876].
In this novel, four girls who embody “the different types of young ladyhood” experience a spiritual awakening at a religious camp.
- Stockton, Frank Richard and Marian Edwards Stockton. The Home: where it should be and what to put in it. New York: Putnam, 1873.
Topics include building and furnishing a home, and managing servants: "If you can get a servant to regard you as her friend, your task is half done."
- Studley, Mary J. What Our Girls Ought to Know. New York: M. L. Holbrook, 1878.
An educational book for young women, with subjects ranging from the anatomy of mammals to nervous illnesses. A section on health and constitution warns: "If you have eaten three or four hot biscuits for supper and poured down one or two glasses of cold water, you have taken one way to get a headache, and a bad breath which will report you to your neighbors next morning."
