Conduct book
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"In the twentieth century, scholars usually situated Il Galateo among the courtesy books and conduct manuals that were very popular during the Renaissance. In addition to Castiglione’s celebrated The Book of the Courtier, other important Italian treatises and dialogues include Alessandro Piccolomini’s Moral institutione (1560), Luigi Cornaro’s Treatise on the Sober Life (1558-1565), and Stefano Guazzo’s Art of Civil Conversation (1579)." --Sholem Stein |
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Conduct books are a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep (ca. 2350 BC) are among the earliest surviving works. Conduct books remained popular through the 18th century, although they gradually declined with the advent of the novel.
18th century
Popular 18th-century conduct books included Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son (1774), John Gregory's A Father's Legacy to His Daughters (1774), Hester Chapone's Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773), William Kenrick's The Whole Duty of Woman (1753), and the compendium The Lady's Pocket Library (1792), published by Mathew Carey, which included selections by Hannah More, Sarah, Lady Pennington, Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles and Jonathan Swift. In the 19th century, popular conduct books included Henry Ward Beecher's Lectures to Young Men (1844), William Alcott's The Young Man's Guide (1834), The Young Wife, The Young Woman's Guide to Excellence, The Boy's Guide to Usefulness, and Familiar Letters to Young Men on Various Subjects, Lydia Sigourney's Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse (1815), How to Be Happy (1833) and Letters to Young Ladies (1833), Harvey Newcomb's A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females, The Young Lady's Guide to the Harmonious Development of Christian Character, How to Be a Man, Anecdotes for Girls, How to Be a Lady and Anecdotes for Boys, and Timothy Shay Arthur's Advice to Young Ladies on Their Duties and Conduct in Life (1848) and its companion volume Advice to Young Men on Their Duties and Conduct in Life (1848).
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