1923 Finishing School Exercise Books from Evendine Court

Description

Original Binding, Original Source, Very Scarce

Handwritten exercise books from Evendine Court in Malvern, a finishing school which taught young ladies the duties of their own families' household staff by requiring them to complete domestic work themselves. Courses typically lasted six weeks, and during the Second World War, it adopted more traditional finishing school subjects for young women unable to travel to Europe. The school closed in 1998.

Present here are four handwritten exercise books from a young woman named Dorothy Horton, who attended the school in 1923.

Two of these volumes are devoted to cookery, and feature instructions for basic cooking techniques, an illustration of the kitchen range, guides to meats and fish, and inscriptions for making preserves. With guides to poaching eggs, and making several types of icing.

The bookkeeping volume discusses cash books, balancing, opening a bank account, cheques, bills, the division of incomes, insurance, and taxes.

The dressmaking volume discusses cutting patterns, fitting a blouse, stitches used in needlework, repairing household linens, patching cotton, and attaching buttons. There are eight samples of fabric that Dorothy worked on sewn into the book.