Directions to servants

Author(s)

• Swift, Jonathan
• Tóibín, Colm

Bibliographic Information

Directions to servants

Jonathan Swift ; [foreword by Colm Tóibín]

（100 pages）

Hesperus Press, 2003

Note

First published in 1745

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Taking the form of a handbook of manners, and addressed to each servant individually, Directions to Servants is the ultimate upstairs/downstairs battle. With scathing wit, Swift pits master against servant in an endless struggle for order, frugality and the best bits of the roast. His servants are lazy, profligate, and acquisitive: always on the lookout for a shilling to be made on the sale of leftovers, or a half-bottle of wine to share with the cook. Written in Swift's final years of sanity, Directions to Servants is a last hilarious outpouring of cynicism at a lifetime's accumulation of poor service.

Table of Contents

• Foreword by Colm Toibin
• Directions to :
• All Servants in General
• the Butler
• the Cook
• the Footman
• the Coachman
• the Groom
• the House Steward and Land Steward
• the Porter
• the Chambermaid
• the Waiting-maid
• the Housemaid
• the Dairymaid
• the Children's Maid
• the Nurse
• the Laundress
• the Housekeeper
• the Tutoress or Governess
• Notes
• Note on the text
• Biographical note

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA66031009
• ISBN:
  • 1843910624
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: London
• Pages/Volumes: x, 78 p.
• Size: 20 cm
• Classification:
  • DC21 : 828.508
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Household employees -- Humor -- Early works to 1800
  • LCSH : Irony in literature
  • LCSH : Domestics
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA62082540