1676 Scarce Book - Jeremy TAYLOR - THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY LIVING & HOLY DYING.

 

(description)

Author : Jeremy Taylor.
Title : The rule and exercises of holy living : In which are described the means and instruments of obtaining every vertue, and the remedies against every vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations. Together with prayers containing the whole duty of a Christian, and the parts of devotion fitted to all occasions, and furnished for all necessities. By Jer. Taylor, D.D. chaplain in ordinary to his late Majesty. [BOUND WITH] The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying.
Language : Text in English.
Publisher : London printed by Roger Norton for Richard Roysten, bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty, at the Angel in Amen-Corner [MDCLXXVI. [1676]
Size : 7 " X 5 "
Pages :  335 - 259 pages
Binding : Attractive and very good full calf leather binding (hinges tight,  overall slightly scuffed and worn) under a protective mylar cover .
Content : Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare staining and foxing, upper corner of first blank endpaper cut - probably to remove the name of a previous owner).
Illustrations : Complete with the frontis illustration, the 2 double page plates and the illustrated title page. (Rare in this condition)

Estimate : (USD 400 - USD 800 - this is the same edition as the Coleridge edition sold by Sotherby's in 2007 for USD5000)

The book : Scarce 1676 edition of those two books of Christian devotion by Jeremy Taylor. They were originally published as The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living in 1650 and The Rules and Exercises of Holy Dying in 1651. Holy Living is designed to instruct the reader in living a virtuous life, increasing personal piety, and avoiding temptations. Holy Dying is meant to instruct the reader in the "means and instruments" of preparing for a blessed death. Holy Dying was the "artistic climax" of a consolatory death literature tradition that had begun with Ars moriendi in the 15th century.

The author : Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest prose writers in the English language. He is remembered in the Church of England's calendar of saints with a Lesser Festival on 13 August.