1701 A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson's Character by George Herbert

The venerable George Herbert's A Priest to the Temple, 1701 printing, with Barnabas Oley's preface, and an unsigned Prefatory View of the Life and Vertues of the Author and Excellencies of This Book at the rear. Also, a fun, one page advertisement of books printed by the publisher acts as the last page.
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh-born poet, orator and Anglican priest. Herbert's poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists."

Herbert's only prose work, A Priest to the Temple (usually known as The Country Parson), offers practical advice to rural clergy. In it, he advises that "things of ordinary use" such as ploughs, leaven, or dances, could be made to "serve for lights even of Heavenly Truths". It was first published in 1652 as part of Herbert's Remains, or Sundry Pieces of That Sweet Singer, Mr. George Herbert, edited by Barnabas Oley. The first edition was prefixed with unsigned preface by Oley, which was used as one of the sources for Izaak Walton's biography of Herbert, first published in 1670.

Physical Attributes -

Measures 16 x 9 x 1.54 cm. calf. Pages - 12 leaves (A1-12), 4 leaves (a1-4), 142 numbered pages, 21 leaves (advertisement and Prefatory View), (1)

Condition -

See pictures. Shelf wear, especially at edges. Front joint entirely cracked, one or two cords and a repaired hinge holding it on. Rear joint cracked top 1.5" Spine chipped at top and bottom and missing one compartment. Remnants of an earlier spine repair on boards. Inner front hinge repaired with some form of library repair tape. Names, prices, etc. on paste-down/flyleaf. A little soiling on title page. First quire extends out a little farther. There's a few chips at the edges. One page has an ink mark in the upper margin. Signature I2, has a 2" tear. Despite flaws the text block is in reading condition.