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A guidebook offering advice to the Bridget Jones-esque singletons of the Victorian era has been unearthed after more than 100 years.

Despite being written in 1899 the fascinating book provides remarkably modern guidance on love, marriage, employment and even exercise to the unmarried ladies of Britain.

Written at a time when attitudes towards women were beginning to shift, the book suggests avoiding the stresses and strains of marriage in favour of the single life.

It proposes that women ditch corsets and the big, heavy dresses of the time in favour of more sensible clothing - and even says that wearing make-up is no substitute for being healthy.

(Image: BritishLibrary/BNPS)

The book, called Advice to Single Women, was written by author Haydn Brown and was first published two years before the death of Queen Victoria.

It has now been reprinted for the first time in 116 years researchers at the British Library stumbled across it while trawling through their archives.

Tackling the subject of marriage, Brown wrote: “Most of those who have married have no idea how they ever came to do such a thing.

“Single women who have been industrious, and who have boldly carved out a career for themselves, can afford to snap their fingers at lost lovers, and thank the fate that at length designed them for a life of single success rather than the possible one of married misery.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

“Marriage is like dipping into the ‘lucky bag’; all parties to the game bring out something, but only a few get hold of packets that are worth much to them.”

And in the pursuit of a lover Brown says women must seek out only masculine men: “A woman should, whatever she do, look out for a manly man.

“She may admire and desire a lover before she really learns his deeper qualities, but if she get one who in the fulness of time manifests marked effeminacy, her love will wane, her admiration will sicken and die, and there will be a shaking in their contract before long.”

(Image: BritishLibrary/BNPS)

A whole chapter of the book is dedicated to persuading women to stop wearing corsets, a very Victorian trend.

Brown wrote: “A shrewd woman once argued that because the lowest ribs, those that are so pressed upon when a waist is nipped, are not fixed in front, this must have been a provision of Nature designed in order that waists should be contracted; but she was wrong, however, for Nature never intended that women’s waists should be like wasps’.

“It must be remembered that only the more advanced races, those most civilised, have taken to tight-lacing. Fancy this! The more we know, the bigger fools we of humanity seem to be, in some things.”

In a hint of ‘girl power’, Brown acknowledged a new era of social change: “We may all some day think no more of the sex in bloomers giving high kicks at football than we do now of cycling skirts and golf-playing.”

(Image: BritishLibrary/BNPS)

Robert Davies, managing editor of the British Library, said: “We were going back through the archives at the British Library looking for advice books and etiquette guides from a bygone age when we came across Advice to Single Women.

“It struck us as a kind of 19th century Bridget Jones book packed with advice for the Victorian singleton.

“Some of the views in the book are quite modern in their approach to marriage - there’s a lot of cynicism about the institution.

“And the author rallies against the wearing of corsets, something that was quite big in the Victorian era.

“It would be a stretch to call it an early feminist book but it certainly reflects the changing attitudes towards woman of that time.

(Image: BritishLibrary/BNPS)

“Although it was published over 100 years ago the book’s content is not as old fashioned as you might expect.

“There are still plenty of cliches in their though, such as the suggestion that if a woman sees blood she will faint because she’s emotionally unstable.

“We decided to reprint the book so that readers can raise an eyebrow and have a chuckle about the attitudes, opinions and social quirks of yesteryear.”

Advice to Single Women costs £7.99 from the British Library shop.