Guidebooks of decorum
Among stocks of Polish digital libraries we can find many different kinds of guidebooks – for example cooking, technical, zoological, but also social – these most interesting ones come from the between of 19th and 20th centuries. Basically most digital libraries belonging to the Digital Libraries Federation share some social codes or decorum guidebooks. In our times merely noone remembers about such indications, which may often seem ridiculous, but definitely we can read those prescriptions about behaviour in every possible field of living for fun, especially when they are written in this decorative, old-fashioned language. The first in the row in this case would be the National Digital Library POLONA, where can be found e.g. Guidebook for Ladies, in other words some prescriptions for the fair sexnik; instructions How should girls dress in their school age?; Good modern tone or (a social code): how to become a distinguished gentleman, how to become an elegant lady; Social habits described by baroness Staff and a humorous Interesting social guidebook or an Art of being engaging all the time: humor on illustrations, house games, plays, social fun etc. and secrets of love, indications and advices for youngsters […]. In other digital libraries we can also find some single old publications – in the Digital Library of the Warsaw University there are objects even from the beginning of 19th century – About convivality and communing with people and Global man or the rules of handsomeness, grace, charm and decent courtesy necessary in different relations of social life. Some other similar codes are shared by such libraries as: the Digital Library of Krosno (Social code), the Digital Library of Opole (Coexistence with people: a social code), the UMCS Digital Library (Elements of social talk), Podkarpacka Digital Library (Social practices) and the Silesian Digital Library (A book of social mores).
