How To Behave Though A Debutante.

POST, Emily; Illustrations by John Held Jr.

Item Number: 109682

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc, 1928.

Scarce first edition of one of Post’s several humorous sequels to Etiquette, with illustrations by John Held Jr., one of the best-known magazine illustrators of the 1920s. Octavo, original half cloth over pictorial boards, paper spine label, top edge red, illustrations by John Held Jr. Presentation copy, inscribed by Emily Post on the front free endpaper, “To H.D. Trevillian with love from ‘Muriel’ autographed for her by Emily Post” and with a note on her calling card affixed to the rear pastedown, “Do you know that I write for the Richmond Times Dispatch, every day as well as for the N.Y. Tribune Magazine on Sundays? Emily Post.” Additionally inscribed by John Held Jr. on the half-title page, “To Helen W. Trevillian John Held Jr.” Very good in the scarce original dust jacket which is in very good condition.

Post wrote in various styles, including humorous travel books, early in her career. She published her first etiquette book Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home (frequently referenced as Etiquette) in 1922 at the age of 50; it became a best-seller, with equally popular updated versions appearing for the next several decades, including the present volume. How to Behave Though a Debutante features the opinions of the fictitious debutante Muriel, as overhead by Post, including chapters on the average day of a debutante, navigating taboo subjects of conversation, taming wild men, how to train a beau, and how to be a specialist in success. With illustrations by American cartoonist John Held, Jr., one of the best-known magazine illustrators of the 1920s whose satirical drawings depicting the flapper era have continued to define the Jazz Age for subsequent generations.