Don'ts for Wives and Don'ts for Husbands



As I share quotes from Don'ts for Wives and Don'ts for Husbands with my friends on a Saturday morning in a caf, we are in stitches. These two pocket advice books are priceless, and would be perfect as part of an anniversary or birthday package for your partner, or married friend.

Written as guidelines for the perfect marriage in 1913, they evoke the Edwardian parlour; velveteen curtains, cigars and Jeeves standing in the corridor, awaiting his master?s call. Ms. Ebbutt, the late author of the pair, delivers her advice with dry humour and a certain sense of comradery, like a motherly matron or all-knowing nanny:

Don't take your husband on a laborious shopping expedition, and expect his to remain good-tempered throughout

Although we do like to think that married life has evolved over the last century, many of the clichs offered up have a genuine place within a modern relationship; I think my favourite 'tip' for wives is under the heading How to Avoid Discord:

Don't manage your husband too visibly. Of course he may require the most careful management but you don't want your friends to think of him as a hen pecked husband. Above all, never let him think you manage him.

So simple yet so very very poignant; I think we can all relate.

Another huge attraction of the books is the presentation. Usually such small snippets of advice would be coupled with second rate, hideously distasteful cartoons of a wife in hair rollers, scowling at an overweight, balding husband, who looks pathetic and brow beaten in a cardigan and worn slippers. Instead, these are simply presented and the perfect addition to a gift package, or as a spontaneous present for when you feel your partner needs a guiding hand!

Available from http://www.theanniversarypresent.com