Mind Your Manors: Tried-and-True British Household Cleaning Tips

British estates were known to be the epitome of cleanliness with their white-glove perfection. Through her meticulous research on servants (for her fascinating book by the same name), author Lucy Lethbridge gleaned much knowledge about how these homes were made to gleam over almost two centuries, from the Victorian era through the Edwardian years and beyond.

The majority of household tasks were done with basic ingredients like lemon juice, white vinegar, and bicarbonate of soda - which now feel very modern in their display of frugality and ecological soundness. Tea leaves were used to freshen up rugs and stewed rhubarb to remove rust stains. Here, Lethbridge reveals these old-fashioned and almost-forgotten techniques that made British households sparkle before the use of complicated contraptions and a spray for every surface.

A treasury of advice from servants’ memoirs and housekeeping guides, and illustrated with charming art from period advertising and domestic classics, Mind Your Manors is the perfect book for any Anglophile, trivia lovers and all those who want to put time-tested cleaning methods to work.

Hardcover. 128 pages. 5" x 8".