I wrote to Pat Murphy. I said we all liked her book, there was just one small error. She asked for more information. I sent her an explanation. Rather than being put off by this core dump, she thanked me for it and asked if she could copy my e-mail to another author who was interested. I said don't bother, I've put the whole thing online. Pass it along to anyone who's interested.
So here it is, "A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility." Let me know if there's anything wrong, or anything left out you think is necessary.
Kalimac's corner: a journal by DB
I once sent a letter to the 7th Earl of Harewood. I received a response by email, from his secretary.
ReplyDeleteThe salutation in the letter was Dear Lord Harewood.
Yes, that's right.
DeleteThis guy, whose first wife was, unusually, Jewish.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lascelles,_7th_Earl_of_Harewood
Debrett should count as a 'good source'; see https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerageb0000unse/page/n45/mode/2up
ReplyDeleteoh god no. Far too detailed, far too fussy. I would never dump a book of that size on a fiction writer who just wanted to learn to avoid the common errors. That would be cruel and unusual punishment.
Delete