{"product_id":"how-to-be-a-good-wife-9781851243815","title":"How to Be a Good Wife","description":"\u003ci\u003eDon't think that your wife has placed waste-paper baskets in the rooms as ornaments.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDon't forget that very true remark that while face powder may catch a man, baking powder is the stuff to hold him.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMarriage can be a series of humorous miscommunications, a power struggle, or a diplomatic nightmare. Men and women have long struggled to figure each other out--and the misunderstandings can continue well after they've been joined in matrimony. But long before \u003ci\u003eMen Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus\u003c\/i\u003e, couples turned to self-help booklets such as \u003ci\u003eHow to Be a Good\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eHusband \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eHow to Be a Good Wife\u003c\/i\u003e, two historic advice books that are now delightfully reproduced by the Bodleian Library.\u003cbr\u003eThe books, originally published in the 1930s for middle-class British couples, are filled with witty and charming aphorisms on how wives and husbands should treat each other. Some advice is unquestionably outdated--\"It is a wife's duty to look her best. If you don't tidy yourself up, don't be surprised if your husband begins to compare you unfavorably with the typist at the office\"--but many other pieces of advice are wholly applicable today. They include such insightful sayings as: \"Don't tell your wife terminological inexactitudes, which are, in plain English, lies. A woman has wonderful intuition for spotting even minor departures from the truth\"; \"After all is said and done, husbands are not terribly difficult to manage\"; or \"Don't squeeze the tube of toothpaste from the top instead of from the bottom. This is one of the small things of life that always irritates a careful wife.\"\u003cbr\u003eEntertaining and charmingly illustrated, \u003ci\u003eHow to Be a Good Husband\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow to Be a Good Wife\u003c\/i\u003e offer enduringly useful advice for all couples, from the newly engaged to those celebrating their golden anniversary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBodleian Library:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eThe Bodleian Library\u003c\/b\u003e produces beautiful and authoritative books which help to bring the riches of Oxford's libraries to readers around the world. They publish on a very wide range of subjects, including catalogues and other titles related to their exhibitions, illustrated and non-illustrated thematic works and facsimiles, gift books, and children's books and stationery.","brand":"Bodleian Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50545188864274,"sku":"9781851243815","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fe5ce941-fb76-4425-aba1-eb834302327e.jpg?v=1731542111","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/how-to-be-a-good-wife-9781851243815","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}