TABLE SETTINGS, ENTERTAINING, AND ETIQUETTE. A History and Guide

by Patricia Easterbrook Roberts

All the elements involved in the setting of a beautiful table and entertaining with originality and style are presented on these pages. In addition to her own superb settings, the author includes rare historic illustrations which show how fashions in setting the table have changed over the centuries. The book also serves as a reference on formal etiquette; the correct way to make place settings for formal meals is demonstrated, and the reader will find useful advice on such matters as checklists and the general planning and preparation for all kinds of parties given with and without help. Other chapters deal with the arrangement of flowers and the use of long-lasting centerpieces, and with china, glass, silver, and linen. Here valuable information is given on famous makers and on classic designs. Emphasis is placed on using what is readily available in a creative way, and on choosing, wherever possible, suitable tableware for different types of rooms and for the kind of meal to be served. Many other subjects are included, ranging tea drinking to the serving wine, from the outdoor picnic to “table talk” in which the author gives the almost forgotten origins of many famous everyday phrases. The book is a visual delight and a most practical and informative guide to make entertaining at home easier and more interesting. Patricia Easterbrook Roberts (1910–1987) was an Australian-born floral designer, author, and landscape designer who worked in Australia, England and the United States. During the early 1940s, Roberts operated the Roberts School of Dramatic Floriculture in Detroit, had a weekly radio program on flower care and arranging, and wrote monthly articles . In 1945 she published her first book, Technical Floristry, believed to be the first textbook for professional florists written in the U.S. The historical information she provided in TABLE SETTINGS, ENTERTAINING, AND ETIQUETTE has been referenced by both academic studies and cookbooks with a historic theme.

271 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1967