The Housekeeper’s Knowledge

About this book

Without a washing machine, without a shelf of cleaning goods in the shop and without electric light, the house was still kept clean. With soap, ashes, soda, vinegar, sand and chalk — and with the knowledge of which stain comes out with what. This chapter is the household manual of its day: washing and bleaching, stains, clothes and leather, floors, windows, dishes and metals, the air of the room, lighting, vermin in the house, and a great many small turns that today would be called household tricks.

The text is word for word — nothing has been retold, shortened or “improved”. Only the letters have been changed: the gothic type and the old orthography have been put into modern letters, and the book translated into English. Old and foreign words are explained beside the text, and at the end there is a table of the old measures and a glossary.

What is inside

• Washing, boiling and bleaching the linen
• Stains — which comes out with what
• Clothes, leather things and furs
• Floors, windows, furniture, dishes and metals
• Lighting, heating and vermin in the house
• 297 numbered hints and recipes
• 304 old and foreign words explained beside the text, plus a glossary and a table of measures at the end

About the series

The text is word for word — nothing has been retold, shortened or “improved”. Only the letters have been changed: the gothic type and the old orthography have been put into modern letters, and the book translated into English. Old and foreign words are explained beside the text, and at the end there is a table of the old measures and a glossary.