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    Don'ts for Husbands
    Don'ts for Husbands
    Don'ts for Husbands
    Ebook41 pages35 minutes

    Don'ts for Husbands

    By Blanche Ebbutt

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    More than 1,000,000 copies sold!

    Don'ts for Husbands is a facsimile of the original 1913 edition, containing hundreds of snippets of entertaining advice for a happy marriage. While some are quirkily of their time, and rich with fascinating insights into the history of relations between the sexes, many contain wisdom that rings true more than 100 years after they were written.

    Inside you can find advice on topics such as habits, jealousy, household management, hobbies and even hints on finance. There is much wisdom to be taken from this little book to ensure matrimonial bliss:

    'Don't forget to be your wife's best friend as well as her husband. True friendship in marriage does away with all sorts of trouble.'

    'Don't insist upon having the last word. If you know when to drop an argument, you are a wise man.'

    'No doubt you are a very clever fellow, and it is an education for her to listen to you, but she also may have some views worth mentioning.'

    This charming pocket-sized edition is perfect as a Christmas stocking filler, or as a gift (along with the matching Don'ts for Wives) for newly-weds, engagements and anniversaries.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJun 1, 2010
    ISBN9781408133545
    Don'ts for Husbands
    Author

    Blanche Ebbutt

    Blanche Ebbutt (née Berry) was born in 1866 in Hyde, Cheshire. Her two successful advice manuals, Don'ts for Wives and Don'ts for Husbands were published in 1913.

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    Reviews for Don'ts for Husbands

    4/5

    13 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It carries some good advice and considering the time period it was published, Marriage is not rocket science.
    • 4/5
      For a book that was written almost 100 years ago, it's doing pretty well in keeping up with the times.

      Stay light hearted and don't take things to literally, like he is working for you , he earns the money for the both of you. Back in those days I guess it was normal for the wife not to work and look after the house & their belongings.

      Some wives can take a page of two from this book and really learn something.
    • 3/5
      In 1913, women were expected to wear smotheringly hot full length dresses in order to be considered decent. Most women did not work outside of the home, being expected to be happy in their role as wife and mother. In most of the world, women didn’t even have the right to vote. Surely any marital advice given at this time would seem incredibly outdated or, at the very least, charmingly quaint, in the year 2011? It was with this attitude that I first opened the pages of Don’ts For Wives by Blanche Ebbutt. It did not take me long to realise just how wrong I was. While some of the tips are no longer relevant to the average reader – those having to do with how to deal with servants, for example – much of the wisdom within this volume is as relevant today as it was then. I found myself taking note of many pieces of advice, with the intention of attempting to remedy my behaviour within my own marriage.Much chastened, I moved onto Don’ts for Husbands with a more open mind. Once again, I was surprised at how relevant much of Ms Ebbutt’s advice is to today’s relationships and the progressiveness of some of the points, considering the era in which the book was written.It is a shame that these books have been so unknown for so long, as I feel that the advice in them is more relevant to a newly married couple than a dozen books of the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus persuasion. I would venture to go so far as to state that a copy of each of these books should be given to the happy couple as a wedding present (or perhaps a housewarming gift for those in less formal arrangements). Certainly anybody in a permanent relationship should consider reading them. You will be surprised at just how much you are doing wrong.

    Book preview

    Don'ts for Husbands - Blanche Ebbutt

    Originally published 1913

    Republished 2007

    by A & C Black

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

    50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

    29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

    www.acblack.com

    Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

    ISBN 9780713687910

    A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

    from the British Library.

    Printed by WKT Company Ltd, China

    Table of Contents

    Preface

    Don’ts for Husbands

    I.—General Habits

    II.—Personal Relations

    III.—Jealousy

    IV.—Hints on Finance

    V.—Household Matters

    VI.—Recreation and Holidays

    VII.—Health

    VIII.—Dress

    IX.—Hobbies

    X.—Food

    XI.—Children

    DON’TS

    FOR HUSBANDS

    DON’TS

    FOR HUSBANDS

    BY

    BLANCHE EBBUTT

    9781408133545_ps_0005_001

    PREFACE

    MY DEAR SIR,

    You are neither as bad nor as good a fellow as you imagine yourself to be. No doubt you know a good deal about women, but (if you are in the early years of your married life) not nearly as much as you will in another decade. In any case I hope that, when you have read my little book, you will thank me for having told you many things that otherwise you could have learned only by experience, more or less bitter according to the discretion exercised both by you and by your other half.

    Women, married or single, are kittle-cattle; and, as for men—well, I have a husband myself !

    BLANCHE EBBUTT.

    DON’TS FOR HUSBANDS

    I.—GENERAL HABITS.

    DON’T drop cigarette ash all over the drawing-room carpet. Some people will tell you that it improves the colours, but your wife won’t care to try that recipe.

    Don’t throw cigar-ends into the bowl of water your wife keeps in front of the gas-fire. They are not ornamental, and she will not be pleased.

    Don’t increase the necessary work of the house by leaving all your things lying about in different places. If you are not tidy by nature, at least be thoughtful for others.

    Don’t sit down to breakfast in your shirt-sleeves in hot weather on the ground that ‘‘only your wife’’ is present. She is a woman like any other woman. The courtesies you give to womankind are her due, and she will appreciate them.

    Don’t take it out on your poor wife every time you have a headache or a cold. It isn’t her fault, and she has enough to do in nursing you, without having to put up with ill-humour into the bargain.

    Don’t flourish a grimy handkerchief about because you have forgotten to take a clean one out of your box or your drawer. If your wife

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