A CATALOGUE OF GEORGIAN ‘BAD BEHAVIOR’. 12mo. [15 x 9 cm]. xii pp including half-title, 203 pp, (1) p publisher’s advertisements of other Catholic publications. Bound in (rather economical) contemporary calf. Early 20th century stamp on half-title of the ‘Monasterii S. Marial’ in Erith, Kent (the only monastery we can find in Erith today is a Capuchin establishment). Marginal toning to half-title and title-page due to offset binder’s glue from pastedown; front joint skillfully repaired; otherwise a good copy. Scarce sole edition of this elaborate, yet rather entertaining treatise on sinful conduct and the rewards of ‘auricular’ confession for English Catholics in the mid-to-late 18th century. By providing richly descriptive examples, the text ironically offers a window onto the sorts of debauched behavior no doubt rife during the Georgian period England: “I have wished an old aunt was dead, that I might possess her money”; “I have wished my father was laid up with the gout, or other sickness, that I might be at liberty to pay visits, play at cards, &c.”; “I encouraged one of my servants to make a man drunk; and advised him another time to be rude with a girl”; etc. A section on transgressions against the Seventh Commandment outlines the sins within marriage: “I have refused, out of disdain and disgust, to lie with [my husband]. I have, through avarice or fear of being overburdened with children, defiled the marriage bed. I have, through wantonness and lust, exposed myself to imminent danger of defilement… “ (p. 196). The history of Catholic persecution in England extended well into the 19th century, making the survival of English-printed Catholic literature during that period uncommon. The Gordon Riots in 1780 protested increasing liberalization towards Catholics, and it was not until the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act in 1829 that many basic rights were finally guaranteed. Father Peter Jenkins , S.J. , (1735-1818) was born at Sutton , near Guilford , and joined the Jesuit Order in 1753. No further edition of the present work seems to have been published. Of added interest is the catalogue of 21 publications sold by the Catholic bookseller J. Marmaduke, found on the verso of the final leaf here. In our experience, catalogues of such literature often include titles or editions which have failed to survive into the present day. The ESTC notes only three copies in US libraries (Newberry, SMU, St Louis), but OCLC adds three more at Columbia, Emory, and Minnesota. * ESTC T92040; Gillow, Catholics, III, 614.