First published in 1981, this book represents the first comprehensive examination of Victorian society’s preoccupation with the ‘notion of the gentleman’ and how this was reflected in the literature of the time. Starting with Addison and Lord Chesterfield, the author explores the influence of the gentlemanly ideal on the evolution of the English middle classes, and reveals its central part in the novels of Thackeray, Dickens and Trollope. Combining social and cultural analysis with literary criticism, this book provides new readings of Vanity Fair and Great Expectations, a fresh approach to Trollope, and a detailed account of the various streams that fed into the idea of the gentleman.

In so doing, she reveals the link between the idealization of little girls and a widespread fantasy of male development - a myth suggesting that men become masculine only after an initial feminine stage, lived out in the protective environment of the nursery. Little girls, argues Robson, thus offer an adult male the best opportunity to reconnect with his own lost self.".

Regardless of time period, some things hold true: kindness is timeless. Invasion of privacy; divorce; relationship issues; encounters between people from different places and cultures; new technologies developed at dizzying speeds . . . the hectic pace of life in the late nineteenth century could make the mind reel. Wait a minute—the nineteenth century? Many of the issues people faced in the 1880s and ’90s surprisingly remain problems in today’s modern world, so why not take a peek at some Victorian advice about negotiating life’s dizzying twists and turns? Gathered from period magazines and Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms, a book on social conduct originally published in 1891, this volume provides timeless guidance for a myriad of situations, including: The husband’s duty: Give your wife every advantage that it is possible to bestow. Suggestions about shopping: Purchasers should, as far as possible, patronize the merchants of their own town. (Buy local!) Suggestions for travel: Having paid for one ticket, you are entitled to only one seat. It shows selfishness to deposit a large amount of baggage in the surrounding seats and occupy three or four. Unclassified laws of etiquette: Never leave home with unkind words. This advice is accompanied by watercolors and illustrations throughout. Though these are tips originate from nineteenth-century ideas, you’ll find that they certainly do still apply.

After his introduction to the delights of desire at an early age, a wealthy gentleman embarks on a life-long sexual adventure progressing from the charms of schoolgirls to those of older women, in particular mothers and other people's wives. His search for ultimate pleasure takes him from the brothels of London to the exclusive and aristocratic pleasures of Paris, and eventually to the upper echelons of sexual satisfaction. "Altar of Venus" is a thrilling and action-packed tale of sensuous delights, highly recommended for fans of vintage erotic literature. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality, edition complete with the original text and artwork.

By tracing the rise of the New Man alongside novelistic changes in the representations of marriage, MacDonald shows how this figure encouraged Victorian writers to reassess masculine behaviour and to re-imagine the marriage plot in light of wider social changes. She finds examples in novels by Dickens, Anne Brontë, George Eliot and George Gissing.

Hakim Wärqenäh Eshäté (Dr Charles Martin), born into a family of Ethiopian aristocrats but adopted by a British officer and raised in India, played a significant role in influencing medicine, education and economic development in Ethiopia throughout the first half of the 20th century.