Richard Whitford’s A Work for Householders was a runaway ‘bestseller’ in the early sixteenth-century. First published in 1530, it was the earliest printed English book to direct itself specifically to a middling sort of lay reader: ‘householders…or them that have the guiding or governance of any company’. It was published at least seven times in ten years, attracting readers by offering both spiritual guidance to the layman busily engaged with the world, and succinct practical advice on how to run a thrifty and harmonious household. It drew on the medieval tradition of the mixed life, offering sustenance to the (somewhat) spiritually ambitious layman, and in doing so sought to shore up the faith of those who might be drawn away from traditional belief by the emerging evangelical emphasis on the ordinary Christian’s importance. The text is thus an important work for understanding both lay spirituality and domestic life on the cusp of the Reformation. This edition makes this influential work available for the first time to modern readers in a readable format with extensive notes and preliminary chapters that situate the work in relation to contemporary pragmatic and religious works.
