The woman's book;: Contains everything a woman ought to know

by Florence B Jack

734 pages, Hardcover

Reviews

[Emily Bily]

Definitely could use more detail on hair styling, but I loved the specifics on child-rearing.

[Louise Culmer]

this fascinating book was published in 1911 and is a comperehensive guide to a very diverse range of subjects. it covers everything from household work, mistresses and servants, cookery, dress, managing money, holidays and travel, poultry keeping, home nursing and first aid, pets, gardening, and health etc. There is quite a long section on careers for women, including teaching, literary and secretarial work, medicine and nursing, women in business, women in horticulture and in agriculture, the civil service etc. sdvice on careers is very practical, it lays out clearly how much a medical training will cost for instance, and advises that a woman must have a 'strong constitution' if she wishes to train for medicine. The secotion on politics covers women's suffrage among other things. there are interesting illustations throughout, so if you want to know how to make a dress for example, or perform some of the healthful exercises described, you can see how to do it. The book was clearly aimed at middle class women who had fairly comfortable backgrounds - in the chapter on mistresses and servants for instance it is taken for granted the reader will be among the former, not the latter. Altogether, it is an absorbing look at the variety of interests of reasonably well off women of this era.