Description: Ranging from music to astronomy, gardening to the Bible, this essay collection is the first multi-disciplinary volume to examine a kind of text that was a staple of early modern English publishing: the how-to book. It tackles a wide range of subjects, everything from grammars, music books, gardening manuals to teach-yourself book-keeping, while highlighting the commonalities of diverse texts as didactic works, and situating this material in wider intellectual and material contexts.
Review Quotes: 'The essays [...] broaden our understanding and deepen our appreciation of an often neglected field.' Contemporary Review