The Whole Duty of Woman. By a lady. Written at the Desire of a Noble Lord
by [KENRICK, William]
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Holt, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Printed for R. Baldwin, at the Rose in Pater-Noster-Row. 1753, 1753. First edition. 8vo, 170x105mm. pp. xiv, [2], 88. Quarter calf, original paper covered boards, rubbing and wear to edges and corners with much of the paper covering worn. Rebacked, red morocco label, lettered in gilt. Foxing and browning and some ink marks, small tear to corner of E4 with no loss of text. Front pastedown has the ownership inscription of "Mrs Anne Cave, Barking Alley, 1761" and, opposite, on the recto of the front endpaper is inscribed "Elisbeath (sic) Castell, I.D". William Kenrick was a literary chancer. In 1751, Robert Dodsley had published, with great success, The Oeconomy of Human Life, a collection of short essays on correct moral and social behaviour, purportedly written by a Chinese philosopher. Kenrick, spotting an appetite for moral guidance, wrote his own work, following Dodsley's model of brief pieces with single word titles such as "Modesty", "Reputation", "Frugality" and "Education". The title of Kenrick's book is taken from a seventeenth-century work and he published The whole duty anonymously, pretending that it had been written by a woman. The central idea, that correct behaviour in a woman is more likely to arise when encouraged by another woman, allows Kenrick to hide behind a feminine mask while, all the time, praising the sort of characteristics that men expect women to display. This results in his treading a very fine line between irony and offensiveness. Consider the essay on "Curiosity": "Seek not to know what is improper for thee; for happier is she who but knoweth a little, than she who is acquainted with too much". The Whole Duty of Woman was a great success, running to five editions during Kenrick's life and remaining popular through the nineteenth century. However, it is hard to imagine a writer less appropriate than Kenrick to offer moral guidance. He has been described as "the black sheep of Grub Street" and he does seem to have been an entertainingly ghastly man. He published his New Dictionary of the English Language, heavily plagiarising Samuel Johnson's. He libelled Oliver Goldsmith, he spread rumours about David Garrick's homosexuality, he spent time in debtors' prison, and he picked fights with almost everyone he came into contact with: "he was rarely without a public enemy" (ODNB). Indeed, Kenrick so thrived on disagreement that, if no-one rose to his provocations, he would, pseudonymously, write an intemperate response to his own argument in order to generate a controversy. In other words, just the sort of person to tell your wife, daughter or sister how to behave. T91229
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Details
- Bookseller
- Voewood Rare Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 3313
- Title
- The Whole Duty of Woman. By a lady. Written at the Desire of a Noble Lord
- Author
- [KENRICK, William]
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Printed for R. Baldwin, at the Rose in Pater-Noster-Row. � 1753
- Date Published
- 1753
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Voewood Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Voewood Rare Books
Biblio member since 2018
Holt, Norfolk
About Voewood Rare Books
Simon Finch has been a Rare Book Dealer since 1980. He has had shops in Notting Hill Gate, Mayfair and Holt, Norfolk. His firm has handled a wide variety of material from the First Folio of Shakespeare to the wilder shores of the counterculture and everything in between. In 1998, Simon bought Voewood, one of the finest Arts and Crafts and houses and brought it back to life with an eight-year programme of renovation and restoration. Voewood Rare Books, which operates from Voewood, is the continuation for Simon of a long career in the book trade. It also represents an important link with the House. Voewood is always beautiful, surprising, mysterious and perhaps a little disorientating and we aim to bring something of this spirit to the bookshop. Whilst our focus in on the visual arts, literature and the counter-culture, we deal also in a broad range of antiquarian and modern rare books across all subject areas. Our collection can be found here at Biblio and on our website. We are open by appointment and can always be contacted by email.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- Recto
- The page on the right side of a book, with the term Verso used to describe the page on the left side.
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- A.N.
- The book is pristine and free of any defects, in the same condition as ...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Morocco
- Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...