Don’t: Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More Or Less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech by Oliver Bell Bunce (Pseudonym)

A guide to manners and etiquette (specifically, what not to do) from the late 19th century. Book is a reprint of the origianal circa 1880 publication. Book was a serious guide for public behaviour in its time although it may seem obvious no to do certain things in public today. One example includes: “Don’t blow your nose in the presence of others if you can possibly avoid it. Above all things, don’t blow your nose with your fingers. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes declares that, in all the discussions and differences of opinion as to what constitutes a gentleman, all disputants unite in excluding the man who blows his nose with his fingers.” Definitely some wise words in this tome, although much is quite amusing by today’s standards