First Edition of Swift's Satire on the General Conduct of Servants
Directions to Servants In General;. And in Particular to the Butler, Cook, Footman, Coachman, Groom, House-Steward, and Land-Steward, Porter, Dairy-Maid, Chamber-Maid, Nurse, Laundress, House-Keeper, Tutoress, or Governess. [together with] Three Sermons.
London: R. Dodsley, 1745.
Full Description:
SWIFT, Jonathan. Directions to Servants In General; And in Particular to the Butler, Cook, Footman, Coachman, Groom, House-Steward, and Land-Steward, Porter, Dairy-Maid, Chamber-Maid, Nurse, Laundress, House-Keeper, Tutoress, or Governess. [together with] Three Sermons... London: R. Dodsley, 1745.
First London edition. There was a Dublin edition printed the same year. Octavo (7 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches; 197 x 122 mm). [2], 93, [1, contents] pp.
[Bound together with]:
SWIFT, Jonathan. Three Sermons: I. On Mutual Subjection. II. On Conscience. III. On the Trinity. London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall: and Sold by M. Cooper in Pater-noster Row, 1744.
First issue of the second edition. This is the issue terminating on p. 62. and with the misprint "Subordination" in the last line of p. 32. Page 30 is not misprinted. [2], 62 pp. With engraved head and tail pieces and engraved historiated initials.
Swift's famous pamphlet on servants which was published posthumously. "Written at intervals from 1704 onwards, his work remained unfinished. His speaker consistently recommends examples of bad conduct, behaviour which Swift clearly detested and yet somewhat obsessionally collected over so many years." (Christie's). Ehrenpreis notes that “he considered naming the book The Whole Duty of Servants, which would have created a sardonic parallel to The Whole Duty of Man'' (Swift. iii. 834). Written in the form of a vade mecum for domestics, Swift's satirical Directions to Servants proffers stern advice and recommendations. Among them: "When your Master or Lady calls a servant by name, if that servant be not in the way, none of you are to answer; for then there will be no end to your drudgery . . ." (3). An eminently readable and often hilarious work, Directions also offers a fascinating look at the social structures and domestic economies of mid-eighteenth-century Great Britain.
Rothschild 2178. Teerink 785; Rothschild 2176. Teerink 70.
HBS 68869.
$4,500.
Price: $4,500.00
Item #68869