Enquire Within Upon Everything: The Great Victorian Domestic Standby

by Robert Kemp Philp

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Reference

824 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 1978

Reviews

[Nancy]

I honestly thought this book was not a real book, but a fictional device: I have seen it referenced in several novels. But it really exists, and seriously, you can enquire within upon everything. Want to know how to revive a drunk? It's in there. How to address the Queen? It's in there. Set a table, play whist, keep your husband, clean lace? IT's ALL THERE.

Of course, a word to the wise: probably putting a drowned person in a warm bath isn't going to help them much. And giving brandy to the guy with the concussion isn't awfully helpful, either. But the authors have EXCELLENT advice on the art of conversation, and how to go about consigning your incorrigible son to Borstal.

[Cookie M.]

Full of all kinds of things you will need to know if you time travel back to Victorian times and are unable to take your domestic help with you.

[Avis Black]

This book, originally published in 1856, is one of the first of the 'Enquire Within' series, a reference work intended to explain how to do practically everything in Victorian society. It's a real gem of cultural history and highly recommended. There is a later version from 1894 available online but as it's more 'modern' in scope, it lacks some of the odd charm of the earlier version.

[Zoe]

Can't think how I ever lived without it...

[Adam Woods]

Let us leave aside for a second all of the great tips and information held in this compendium, Enquire Within Upon Everything is one of the finest sociological documents I have ever come across.

If you want to understand how well-to-do people lived 150 years ago, then look no further. It’s Poirot in textbook form, a non-fiction Downton Abbey... a hark back to an era of butlers, maids and housekeepers.

This is definitely a period I am drawn to but have always wondered if perhaps it was exaggerated in literature. Well it appears not. And EWUE is proof of that.

[Heather dennis]

Interesting book for those who are curious about the day to day things that Victorians would have done.

I don't recommend reading it all in one go, it's arrangement is nonsensical at best. You will need to reference the index to find anything.

After reading it I have to say they really liked using turpentine, lead, and deadly nightshade for a lot of things they should not have.

[Gerard Canty]

Does anyone know this book is where Tim Berners Lee was inspired to create the internet?

[Kathryn Bundy]

If you read historical fiction or non-fiction, interpret history for museums, do research about the late nineteenth century or are just curious about how people used to live, check this book out. It's not a book to sit down and read cover to cover --- it's a buffet to return to over and over again.

It says I finished this book, but really, you're never finished.