Each manual that I read for this post mentioned something about a ball not being a ball unless there were over 100 people present. Also emphasized was how important … See more

Speaking of getting things just right as the hostess of a ball, The ladies’ book of etiquette’s author, Florence Hartley, seems to think that these women had nothing short of magic po… See more

The most striking thing to me about reading the 19th-century ball etiquette was the topic all authors seemed to emphasize the most: that a woman was under no circumstances to refuse a … See more

The most surprising thing I learned about Victorian ball etiquette is that while a woman was nearly forbidden from refusing a man a dance, it was equally stressed that he was not … See more