Emily Post, best known as the inventor of American good manners and absolute authority of etiquette, was born on 27 October 1872 at Baltimore, Maryland as the only child of Bruce Price, an architect, and Josephine Lee Price. She made a name for herself as a very successful American author, newspaper columnist and radio broadcaster. Emily Price was educated at home and attended Mrs. Grahams Finishing school in New York where her family had moved. Born into a wealthy, socialite Eastern family Emily had a privileged childhood and have traveled places with her father.

Emily Price became Emily Post by marrying Edwin Main Post, a banker, in 1892, and they had two sons Edwin M. Jr and Bruce Price. But the marriage came to an end when Emily found that her husband was cheating on her. They got divorced in the year 1905. That was a turning point in her life and in order to support herself and her children she began writing short stories that were published in the popular fiction magazines Ainslie's and Everybody's. Early in her career she wrote society columns and travelogues of pre-World War I Europe. She also wrote several novels. Her first novel was published in the year 1904. The novel ‘The Flight of a Moth’ is about a young American widow attracted to an unscrupulous Russian nobleman. She wrote her first book on etiquette Etiquette - the Blue Book of Social Usage in 1922 which became a best seller after which several books followed. The success of her books led her into her new career as radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist. She founded the Emily Post Institute for the Study of Gracious Living in1946.The Emily Post Cook Book was published in the year 1951.She remained active throughout her life and wrote several more books till her death on September 25, 1960 at the age of eighty-six. Her children and grandchildren have authored several books too.

Now after almost 50 years after her death we finally get to meet this wonderful woman whose name is still used in titles of etiquette books. Her Biography titled Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners written by Laura Claridge is available with Amazon.

Source : Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners

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