The Week-End Book

by Francis Meynell, John Julius Norwich (Introduction), Francis Maynell

First published in 1924, this volume offers essential advice on making the most of one's precious leisure time--from how to forecast the weather to making a campfire or paper cups and suggestions for games to play in the country.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, British Literature

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell was the son of publisher and literary editor Wilfrid Meynell and the poet and essayist Alice Christiana Gertrude (née Thompson) Meynell. He was educated at educated at Trinity College, Dublin and became a printer, publisher, and poet. He founded Pelican Press (1916) and Nonesuch Press (1923).

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

No, I don't have nearly enough batteries, sensible foodstuffs or kitty litter stored for the cataclysmic event that the Discovery and History channels* assure me is just a matter of time. But I feel uniquely qualified to survive the experience of stumbling into a wormhole and waking up as a weekend guest in an English country house between the two world wars. You see, I have discovered "The Week-End Book" and, having done so, intend to keep a copy with me at all times. To cover any potential time-travel episodes, you understand.

(*: Each of which now devotes at least one week per month of scheduled programming to the imminent Apocalypse. Will it be a meteor hit? Lethal pandemic? Bioterrorist attack? Nuclear holocaust? Major earthquake? Cataclysmic climatic shift? Only the Illuminati know for sure, and they're not telling.)

Forget all that Gosford Park stuff you've absorbed from overexposure to PBS. All might seem like comfort and pampered elegance on Brideshead and Poirot, but the reality is infinitely more cutthroat. It's a jungle, in which only the socially adept can expect to thrive. Better polish up that glistening repartee, because you're going to need it.

Fortunately, "The Week-End Book" is there to help. Study it closely, absorb its lessons and - unless you're a complete nitwit - you will be sought after by hostesses from Buckinghamshire to Balmoral. General editors Vera Mendel and Francis Meynell and music editor John Goss approach their task of assembling their survival manual for the weekend guest with a kind of brook-no-nonsense, Cold Comfort Farm sensibility that is refreshing. The result was sufficiently popular to warrant 17 reprintings of the first edition between 1924 and 1928. The editors point out that any self-respecting guide of this sort should undergo a major revamping every five years; a greatly expanded second edition was published in 1929 - my copy is a version of the second edition. (No need to haunt the used book stores - "The Weekend Book" has been back in print since 2006)

How will "The Week-End Book" enrich your life? How about 200+ pages of poetry** to begin with, helpfully arranged into five categories:

GREAT POEMS
STATE POEMS
HATE POEMS
EPIGRAMS
THE ZOO

Continue with 80 pages of songs (with music), including folk songs from at least six different nations, spirituals, ballads, sea shanteys, hymns, and several so-called "vulgar fragments".

Rest assured that none of the games suggested in Chapter 7 will require a joystick or monitor. Options like "Salted Almonds" and "Go-Bang" are not for the mentally feeble, who may instead enjoy the less cerebral attractions of "The Roof Game" or "Sardines". Only the most robust friendships are likely to survive an honest game of "Russian Sledges" though, so attempt it at your own risk.

An extra helping of that goofy British charm is provided in the chapter "Travels with a Donkey", which gives advice on how to do just what its title promises. Subsequent chapters on birds and the night sky by season should prove invaluable to people like me who are generally oblivious to their physical surroundings. A chapter on Food and Drink mixes eccentricity with sound practical advice, including cocktail recipes from Satan's whisker to the Rajah's peg.

Recognizing that things don't always go as we might wish, the final two chapters address "the law and how you break it" and administering "first aid in divers crises". Whether you want to "stay the hicquet", gain relief from the "windy spasm", or know what to do before "hobnailing the liver", it's all here in one handy reference volume. There is an ample supply of blank pages to jot down items of interest encountered in one's reading.

You can buy this book on Amazon for less than $20. What are you waiting for?

**: Why trust the editors' taste in poetry selection? Well, for one thing, there's that awesome "HATE POEMS" section. Then that list of poems that were not included on the grounds that any civilized person would already have them committed to memory shows me these editors aren't messing around. Plus it's got the original mondegreen poem:

They hae slain the Earl of Moray
And hae laid him on the green....

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this entertaining book full of nostalgia, social history and trivia relating to the time of the early 20th century.

[Geralyn Gionet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a repro of a book written in early 20 Century (34 printings before this 2006 version). Although this version has new material, it reflects what topics were printed back in those days. Example: parlor games they played, popular songs of the day, birdwatching, etc. Interesting to see how our great, great ancestors lived and fantasize how wonderfully slow life was back then. Also... it's handy historical trivia for houseguests in the bathroom:)

[Emmkay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely mishmash of entertainment and helpful advice for 1920s house parties - poems, games, "The Law and How to Break It," etiquette (wonderful sample letters), nature, foodstuffs, etc. My favourite section was the tips on foraging for food outdoors, which were amusing if of limited usefulness as there's really no need to warn me off of boiling rhubarb leaves or preparing my own mice in honey (!).

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book, and it's my own fault. I though it was going to be a book about weekends at country houses, and it wasn't. The closest it came to that was Julian Fellowes delightful essay about how to be a good guest (and how not to be.) Other than that, it was things to do at the weekend, or things people used to do at the weekend: parlour games & outdoor games; weekend walks; foof & drink; gardening ... etc.

[Melynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

No family should be without this book. It's worth the cover price for the parlor games alone. Animals and Sticks, anyone?

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun little glimpse at a bygone age with fantastic chapters like, "Travels with a donkey" and "The law and how you break it". I'll definitely throw this in a duffel my next trip up north.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic book of trivia and entertainment. Perfect for an intellectual's bathroom-reader or as a traveler's vade-mecum.

[Fishsanwitt]

stamped

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is absolutely fascinating. It is extracts from the 1920s. Contains poems, stories, advice, recipes, games etc. The etiquette section is hilarious as is the advice about women drivers.

[Danyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't care what anyone says, this book is essential for weekending in victorian England