The English Gentleman: Containing Sundry excellent Rules or exquisite Observations, tending to Direction of every Gentleman of selecter ranke and qualitie: How to demeane or accomodate himselfe in the manage of publike or private affaires. By Richard Brathwait. London: John Haviland, 1630.
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An important and scarce first edition, first issue of one of the most influential English courtesy books of the early 17th century, issued here without the additional “three choice characters of marriage” section, as required for the earliest state.
Brathwait’s English Gentleman is a significant English counterpart to Il Cortegiano, adapting the ideals of Renaissance courtly conduct to a distinctly English social and moral framework. Addressed to the “selecter ranke and qualitie,” it gives a wide-ranging programme of behaviour, encompassing education, governance, sociability, and personal virtue, reflecting the transitional culture of early Stuart England, poised between Renaissance humanism and emerging Protestant moral seriousness associated with the Puritans.
Copies are scarce on the market, especially in contemporary bindings and retaining the fold-out letterpress. A copy sold at Swann Auction Galleries 13 Oct 2022 lot 154, realising $4,000 (USD). Another copy, with the English Gentlewoman (separately published), sold for £9,750 (GBP) at Forum Auctions 31 May 2018 lot 161. The former in a modern binding, the latter in a contemporary binding.
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Size: 145 x 194 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(2), foldout, [2], ¶4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Mmm4, Nnn3]
Contemporary full calf, evidently an English binding, subtle decoration with double-fillet in blind to the boards and spine. Binding rubbed, some shelf and edge wear. Both boards are securely attached and the binding is secure. Manuscript binder's waste visible at each end, c.1450, in Latin on vellum, seemingly of English origin, unidentified, but probably from an indenture. Foldout letterpress partially detached but, importantly, remains present (often missing). Generally clean throughout the text block, a few leaves loose causing some unevenness at the fore-edge. Small stain in the gutter of the engraved title (i.e. the 'frontispiece'), not touching the title plate proper. Small loss to upper corner of B4, just touching a letter of text r/v. Stain to Oo1 obscuring a few letters of text (recto). Textually collates as complete, but without the final blank(s), but with the errata leaf.
