author
Reginald Harvey Arnold
Best known for a late-19th-century guide to dress and manners, this little-known writer helped capture the social rules and style ideals of his era. His work offers a vivid glimpse into how gentlemen were expected to present themselves in everyday life and formal society.
1 Audiobook
Simplex Munditiis, Gentlemen
by Mortimer Delano de Lannoy, Reginald Harvey Arnold
About the author
Very little reliable biographical information appears to be available about Reginald Harvey Arnold himself. What can be confirmed is that he is credited, alongside Mortimer Delano de Lannoy, as the co-author of Simplex Munditiis, Gentlemen, a book preserved by Project Gutenberg.
That work is a practical and often lively guide to men's dress, etiquette, and social behavior. Through advice on clothing, conduct, and the habits expected of a "gentleman," it reflects the manners and cultural expectations of the late 1800s.
Because so few trustworthy personal details are readily documented, Arnold is best approached through his writing rather than through a well-recorded life story. For modern listeners, his surviving work is interesting both as a style manual and as a snapshot of the values and social codes of its time.