It is much more interesting to tell the story about how you dined with Marlene Dietrich in the kitchen, than to talk about how you attended a corporate banquet at the Waldorf.  Genevieve Antoine Dariaux

{HISTORY}

Genevieve Antoine Dariaux is an icon in the fashion world. As the former director of the fashion house Nina Ricci, she established herself as an authority on style and design in mid-century France. As an author of a book on style and fashion, she launched herself into the hearts of women around the world offering counsel on all ways to be elegant when presenting oneself to the outside world. Following that international bestselling book, she wrote this one Entertaining with Elegance, a 400-page alphabetical guide detailing how to become a comfortable and confident hostess for all occasions. Published in 1965, it holds up impeccably in today's modern world, offering common-sense advice that travels decades flawlessly. Part party primr, part etiquette book, and part fairy godmother, Genevieve walks readers through all aspects of a hostess' role to ensure a fun time for guests, no matter what your economic level, house size or social status. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

- Original dust jacket

- Illustrated throughout by Sheila Greenwald

- Fun topics include how to deal with boring people, conversation, , debutantes, faux pas, inferiority complexes, originality, picnics, romance, rendezvous, spongers, toasts, white lies and yachting. 

- More traditional topics of entertaining are also included and run the entire gamut from invitations to finger bowls, place settings to seating charts, weddings to cocktail parties, clothing to house guest arrangements

{CONDITION}

The dust jacket is chippy along the edge and contains scuffing on the spine folds but is fully intact and not price-clipped. The interior of the book is flawless with clean, bright pages, a tight spine and clean cover boards.

{SIZE}

Measures 6.5" inches (width) x 9.50" inches (length) x 1.5" inches (depth).

{WHY IT'S MARVELOUS}

Because Genevieve's voice (and advice) is charming. She finishes her book with the letter Z as expected from an A-Z guide. She writes...

If like any good zookeeper, a hostess feeds the inmates of her social zoo regularly and well, provides them with appropriate distractions, separates the incompatible species from each other and remains at a safe distance from the dangerous ones, she will be rewarded  by the respect of all, the devotion of many, and a few may even be willing to jump through hoops for her. 

Well said, Genevieve!