author
Arthur Martine
Best known for a lively 19th-century etiquette guide that promised "true politeness," this writer captured the rules, rituals, and social anxieties of everyday life in Civil War–era America. The result is part manners manual, part time capsule of how people were expected to dress, dine, converse, and behave.
1 Audiobook
Martine's Hand-book of Etiquette, and Guide to True Politeness
by Arthur Martine
About the author
Very little biographical information about Arthur Martine is easy to confirm from reliable online sources, but his name is firmly attached to Martine's Hand-Book of Etiquette, and Guide to True Politeness, a widely circulated etiquette manual first published in the 19th century. Modern editions and library records also connect him with other practical guides, including letter-writing and conduct books.
His best-known work offers advice on conversation, table manners, weddings, dress, social calls, and other everyday customs. Read now, it is more than a rulebook: it opens a window onto the values and expectations of its era, showing how closely manners were tied to class, gender roles, and public respectability.
Because so little personal detail is clearly documented online, the books themselves remain the clearest introduction to their author. For listeners, Arthur Martine is most interesting not as a famous literary personality, but as a guide to the unwritten social code of 19th-century America.