Politeness in Nineteenth-Century Europe

In Late Modern times, both usage guides and letter-writing manuals commented on language etiquette, providing guidance on how to address specific recipients according to their rank, age, and gender, how to approach certain topics, and how to convey mutual status relying exclusively on language. Guides and manuals, however, cannot always be assumed to be accurate representations of what actually occurred in usage. In this contribution I intend to investigate these materials alongside authentic on