Very Good+ with small areas at the corners and upper joint where the cloth has rubbed through, but otherwise remarkably bright and fresh with a particularly handsome rebus-y manicule on the spine. PO Signature to title page and pastedown. Numbers 1-4 of the "Hand-Books for Home Improvement," each with separate half and full title pages enumerating their bountiful virtues. Contains: 'How to Write', (1857, 156pp); How to Talk (1857, 156pp), How to Behave (1856, 149ppp) and How to Do Business (1857, 156pp) plus(4)p ads at rear, including pictorial ad for 'The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated for 1867'. Uncharacteristically level instruction from the phrenological powerhouse, the first two books are acknowledged to be aimed at "usefulness rather than originality,” with prefaces crediting other works, including  Jardine's Principles of English Composition, Newman's Rhetoric, Parker's Aids to English Composition, Wilson's Treatise on Punctuation, Mrs Hale's Dictionary of Poetical Quotations, De Vere's Comparative Philology, Pegge’s Anecdotes of the English Language, Clark's English Grammar, Bronson's Elocution, Francis Trench's Lecture on Conversation, Dr McElligott's American Debater, Pycroft's Course of Reading .

The most original writing comes in the “How to Behave” section, which cautions, ”American children (we are sorry to be obliged to say it) are not as a general rule well behaved. They are rude and disrespectful if not disobedient. They inspire terror rather than love in the breasts of strangers and all persons who seek quiet and like order." (57)  With chestnuts of wisdom like, "Hair is to the human aspect what foliage is to the landscape” (Q1598)