Spit and Polish: Old-Fashioned Ways to Banish Dirt, Dust and Decay

ISBN-13: 9781408866429 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 128 str.

Lucy Lethbridge

Opis

In the late nineteenth century, general housework in the British home was so labour intensive that it required an army of servants to undertake it. Since then, the ways in which we look after our homes may have changed dramatically but the best and simplest of methods from that time still work for us today. From floor to ceiling, and leaving no awkward corner untouched, here are the tricks and techniques that generations once took for granted, distilled for modern use: how to get rid of water marks or heat rings on polished wood; the antibacterial qualities of simple vinegar; the damp cloth versus the dry duster; and using lemon juice to clear limescale. Combining fascinating 'below-stairs' social history with startling facts and useful tips, Lucy Lethbridge restores fast-disappearing skills to keep at bay dust, rust, mildew, stains and pests. Here, beautifully illustrated and entertainingly presented, are a bygone era's keys to a clean house.

Recenzje

Humane, perceptive and dispassionate, Servants takes us more deeply and comprehensively than any previous account into the real world of Upstairs Downstairs David Kynaston

O autorze

Lucy Lethbridge has written for a number of publications and is also the author of several children's books, one of which, Who Was Ada Lovelace?, won the 2002 Blue Peter Award for non-fiction. She is the author of Servants, published to critical acclaim in 2013, Spit and Polish (2016) and Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to Find Themselves (2022). She lives in London.