Dinner Is Served [Hardcover]

Arthur Inch (Author), Arlene Hirst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2003

Elegant entertaining is always in style, and who better to explain the finer points of the art of the table than Arthur Inch, a veteran English butler who served as technical advisor for the film Gosford Park? With a historian's appreciation for the traditions of fine English homes, he discusses the elements of the table, including flatware and silver, china and glassware, serving vessels, and table decorations, as well as table and serving etiquette. "Although most of the book is written in a formal tone, the writers aren't above occasionally letting loose, and they amuse themselves with such pretty tricks as making music with glassware. This guide is fun to read as a light history as well as for preparation for a formal dinner. --Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inch, a butler with more than 50 years of experience serving British nobles, and Hirst, a china connoisseur and a senior editor at Metropolitan Home magazine, instruct the masses on the history of fine dining and on the ways in which contemporary households can host their own formal dinners. Inch describes, in careful detail, how to set the table, what type of flatware and china to use, how to maintain expensive pieces, and how to be a pleasant host or guest. Inch traces customs back to France, Italy and Great Britain, and explains the origin of phrases such as "pass the port" and "drawing room" (originally called the "withdrawing" room). Although most of the book is written in a formal tone, the writers aren't above occasionally letting loose, and they amuse themselves with such pretty tricks as making music with glassware. This guide is fun to read as a light history as well as for preparation for a formal dinner.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Arthur Inch is an English butler with over 50 years of experience in private service at English estates. He also served as the technical advisor for the film Gosford Park. Arlene Hirst is the senior editor of design and news at Metropolitan Home, where she reports on contemporary home furnishings, including tableware.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (October 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762415584
• ISBN-13: 978-0762415588
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,279,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfulfilled potential, February 4, 2004

By 

Chris Frost (Ingalls, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dinner Is Served (Hardcover)

In "Dinner is Served", Arthur Inch hopes to leave us with the rapidly disappearing rules for old-fashioned gracious living. With his extensive experience in service, he is most definitely qualified to do so, and yet he only offers glimpses of his total knowledge. While many of the things in this book will never actually be used by the average person due to their expense and impracticality, there is still much that can and should be put to use in every-day living. While some may view these rules or standards as superfluous or even snobbish, the fact is that these have all been developed over many years and each has its own very legitimate reason for being. The complaints I have with this book are ones that could have been easily remedied. When discussing and describing the various types of tableware, more pictures would have been useful. Only select pieces have been illustrated, leaving the others subject to the whims of the imagination. And while he mentions several different napkin folds, and even specifies his own personal favorite fold, he never explains how to make these folds or shows how they are supposed to look. The sections on how to be the perfect host/hostess and guest, and on how to eat certain different foods could prove to be useful in reducing the potential for embarrassment in the future, and the section explaining the hierarchy of menservants was quite interesting, even if only as a history lesson that serves to demonstrate the logistical nightmares that formal dining can create.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, May 12, 2011

By 

Alex R. Gochenour "Equity markets" (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dinner Is Served: An English Butler's Guide to the Art of the Table (Hardcover)

Dinner is Served appeared to be a glimpse into an elegant corner of English society but it seems the contents stray little from the book's subtitle. The occasional insight into how tableware was maintained for sumptuous British banquets in the 1920s has a certain geriatric charm, but I was expecting scintillating revelations into the society that produced such marvelous dining habits. Arthur Inch was probably a world-class butler, but it he has little to say. The man served Winston Churchill yet only managed to squeeze a petty aside out of it, describing the late leader as "a right handful."

This should not have been published and marketed as a book. It ought to have been a pamphlet distributed to hoteliers.

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dinner Is Served, February 22, 2004

By 

Harry W. Haberthear (Hendersonville, TN , USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinner Is Served (Hardcover)

This is a fine work for someone who knows little to start with, but for someone who wants to know, say, the proper way to hold a fish knife this is a complete waste of money. It is light and provides little information most well reared people don't already know.