BULLETIN 47 APRIL 2015 PICKERING & CHATTO 1 ST. CLEMENT’S COURT LONDON EC4N 7HB TEL: +44 (0) 20 7337 2225 E-MAIL:
[email protected] 1. [ALLESTREE, Richard?]. THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, laid down in a plain and familiar way for the use of all, but especially the meanest reader … Aberdeen: Printed by Francis Douglas, and sold at his Shop in the End of Broadgate. 1759. £ 385 8vo, pp. [xvi], 503, [7] contents, [2] advertisements; a clean copy throughout, with near contemporary ownership signature of ‘Millicent Ellis Nov 28th 1772’ on front free endpaper; contemporary calf, upper joint cracked (but holding firm), some chipping at head and tail of spine, and general surface wear, but still a good copy. Rare Aberdeen printing of The Whole Duty of Man , the bestselling devotional guide which went through twelve editions by 1727, and attained an almost canonical authority in advice manuals of the eighteenth century. ‘ The Whole Duty of Man was intended to show “the very meanest readers” how “to behave themselves so in this world that they may be happy for ever in the next”. This best-selling manual’s prescription of morality and effort was balanced by an emphasis on divine grace and devotional practice: the result was sober, orthodox, common-sense advice pitched at the level of ordinary Anglican parishioners.’ [ODNB] The work is attributed to Richard Allestree (1621/22-1681), noted divine, censor at Oxford and tutor, who was an enthusiastic royalist, working as a courier to the King. He was later canon of Christ Church and provost of Eton College.