Women’s History Owen Felltham Resolves Divine Moral Political 1670 Essay Challenging Gender Double Standards in Early Modern England

Owen Felltham

First Edition

Felltham, Owen. Resolves: Divine, Moral Political published in 1670 stands as one of the most influential collections in the early development of the English essay and contains a notable meditation on gender titled “Of Woman.” First issued by Felltham while still a teenager in 1623, the work helped popularize the short reflective essay in England through concise aphoristic commentaries on religion, ethics, and political life. The text also engages the long-running early modern debate known as the “Woman Question,” and Felltham’s critique of male hypocrisy distinguishes the work within seventeenth century English moral literature. In the essay “Of Woman,” Felltham writes: “When a woman grows bold and daring, we dislike her, and say, she is too like a man: yet in our selves, we magnify what we condemn. Is not this injustice?” His questioning tone placed the work within contemporary discussions about gender, virtue, and social conduct in Renaissance England.

Felltham, Owen. Resolves: Divine, Moral Political. London: A. Seile, 1670. First edition, ninth impression. The volume contains 364 pages of the Resolves followed by an additional 98 pages including the poem Lusoria and a group of letters by Felltham. Early editions of Resolves consisted of one hundred brief essays organized around the divine, ethical, and political spheres of human life, offering short reflections on subjects ranging from religion and personal virtue to public conduct and governance.

Felltham’s essays circulated widely in seventeenth century England and contributed to the shaping of the English essay tradition during a period when writers experimented with short moral reflections modeled in part on continental forms such as the essays of Montaigne. The Resolves addressed the practical moral concerns of emerging middle class English readers and combined religious instruction with observations about everyday social life. Felltham’s willingness to question rigid gender stereotypes placed his writing within the broader early modern debate over women’s character and status that appeared across English pamphlets, sermons, and essays throughout the seventeenth century. Leather covers show splitting along the spine though the binding remains intact. Front board retains an old tissue repair on the inside. Spine worn at both ends and rear cover worn with small areas of leather loss. Interior pages remain clean and well preserved. Good condition.

Item #20436

Price: $1,200.00