The Gentleman's Calling.

A handsome copy of this anonymous courtesy book on the attributes of the ideal gentleman, bound in modern gilt-tooled black morocco by Alan Winstanley of Salisbury Binders.

The text is usually attributed to the Royalist divine Richard Allestree (d.1681), although some speculate that the work was by the learned laywoman Lady Dorothy Pakington, whose private prayers composed during the Civil War and interregnum survive in Bodleian Oxford MS Add. B.58. The author of the dedicatory epistle, Dr Henry Hammond, had been chaplain to Charles I and was a guest of the Pakingtons following the regicide until his own death in 1660.

Printed at the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy, The Gentleman's Calling offers its readers 'Religious and Prudent Instruction' (Epistle) in moral and philosophical matters, taking inspiration from the earlier The Whole Duty of Man (1657).

With a lovely early female ownership inscription for Mary Skyman dated 1697.

8vo (19 x 12.5 cm); 2 engraved facing-portraits of Jeremiah and Zedekiah,woodcut printer's device to title and head and tailpieces, women's ownership inscription to front free endpaper verso, a little toned with slight spotting; modern gilt-tooled black morocco by Alan Winstanley (Salisbury Binders May 1992), gilt-panelled covers in double filet borders, gilt spine in 5 compartments, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece, edges sprinkled blue; [22], [4 engraved plates], 166pp.

ESTC R3385.