30. The Rule | And | Exercises | Of | Holy Living. | [Eleven lines] London, | Printed for Francis Aſh, Book- | Seller in Worceſter. | MDCL. [Colophon] London, | Printed by R. Norton. | MDCL.
The remarkably well-designed title-page engraved by Robert Vaughan, which precedes the printed title, bears the imprint, London printed for R: Royſton | in Ivye lane. 1650. and some copies have the following imprint on the title-page: London, | Printed for Richard Royſton at the | Angel in Ivie-Lane. | MDCL. Royston was the royal bookseller, and publisher of Eikon Basilike, which ran through fifty editions in the single year 1649. Taylor's work was also a popular venture, and reached a fourteenth edition in 1686.
This edition contains "Prayers for our Rulers," which recalls the fact that these were stirring times when the book was published. Charles had been beheaded in January of the previous year, and Cromwell won his victory at Worcester, where Ash had his shop, in the year following. It was not without some worldly wisdom of living, then, that our author used the above heading, and later, when times were changed, altered it so as to make it read, "For the King."
Duodecimo.
Collation: Frontispiece; ¶, twelve leaves; A-S4, in twelves.