EMILY POST Biography - Writers

 
 

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EMILY POST

Emily Post (October 27, 1873 - September 25, 1960) was a United States author                 
who promoted what she considered "proper etiquette". She wrote books surrounding               
the topic of etiquette.                                                                       
                                                                                               
Post was born as Emily Price in Baltimore, Maryland, and was born into privilege               
as the only daughter of famous architect Bruce Price and his wife Josephine Lee               
Price. She was educated at home and attended Miss Graham's finishing school in                 
New York, where her family had moved. A popular debutante, she married society                 
banker Edwin Main Post in 1892 and had two sons, Edwin M. Jr. (1893) and Bruce                 
Price (1895). The couple divorced in 1905, due to her husband's affair with a                 
showgirl.                                                                                     
                                                                                               
At the turn of the century, financial circumstances compelled her to begin                     
writing to earn money, and she produced newspaper articles on architecture and                 
interior design as well as stories and serials for such magazines as Harper's,                 
Scribner's, and The Century, as well as light novels, including Flight of the                 
Moth (1904), Purple and Fine Linen (1906), Woven in the Tapestry (1908), The                   
Title Market (1909), and The Eagle's Feather (1910).                                           
                                                                                               
She wrote in various styles, including humorous travel books, early in her                     
career. In 1922 her book Etiquette (full title Etiquette in Society, in Business,             
in Politics, and at Home) was a best seller, and updated versions continued to                 
be popular for decades.                                                                       
                                                                                               
After 1931, Post spoke on radio programs and wrote a column on good taste for                 
the Bell Syndicate; it appeared daily in some 200 newspapers after 1932.                       
                                                                                               
In 1946, she founded The Emily Post Institute which continues her work. She died               
in 1960 in her New York City apartment at the age of 86.                                       
                                                                                               
Peggy Post, Emily's great-granddaughter-in-law, is the current spokesperson for               
The Emily Post Institute — and writes etiquette advice for Good Housekeeping                 
magazine, succeeding her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Post.                                       
                                                                                               
Peter Post, Emily's great-grandson, writes the "Etiquette at Work" column for                 
the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe. Peter is author of best selling book "Essential       
Manners For Men", "Essential Manners For Couples" and co-authored "The Etiquette               
Advantage In Business" which is in its second edition.                                         
                                                                                               
Lizzie Post, Emily's great-great-granddaughter is the first member of the fourth               
generation of Posts and her book is titled "How Do You Work This Life Thing?" (Collins         
2007)                                                                                         
                                                                                               
Emily Post's name has become synonymous, at least in North America, with proper               
etiquette and manners. Nearly half a century after her death, her name is still               
used in titles of etiquette books.