title: Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America
author:  Susan Williams 
description: This lively and informative volume gives a good general picture of the eat ing patterns of the middle and upper classes in late 19th-century America. Separate chapters are devoted to "The Victorian Middle Class," "Etiquette of the Table," "Dining Rooms and Their Furnishings," and "Fashions in Food and Drink." The book concludes with a discussion of typical menus and a selec tion of period recipes. The final copy apparently will contain numerous black-and-white photographs and line drawings, although this reviewer has not seen them. With its many choice quotations and entertaining anecdotes, this well-written book should appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommend ed. Joyce S. Toomre, Russian Re search Ctr., Harvard Univ.<br />Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # 4
  
  
  
  
  
  IT WAS STILL LIGHT outside, but even in the country the duke preferred to dine
  by candlelight, so the heavy crimson velvet curtains had been drawn, and
  candles glowed in the massive chandelier suspended low over the dark walnut
  table. Their glow was softly reflected in the highly polished wood because her
  grace had long since introduced the Regent’s fashion of dining off the wood,
  although upon occasion she still brought forth the elegant damask and linen
  tablecloths of yore.
  
  
  
  
  
  The atmosphere was intimate, for all the leaves had been removed so that the
  diners need not sit at any great distance from one another. Also, the huge
  silver epergne that customarily formed the centerpiece for large dinners had
  been relegated to the sideboard, and a low, cheerful arrangement of early
  spring flowers had been set in its place.
  
  
  
  
  
  Malmesbury took his place at the head of the table, where he was flanked by
  his two daughters, and Ravenwood sat to the right of the duchess, next to
  Ci