A Father's Instructions; Consisting of Moral Tales, Fables, and Reflections; designed to promote the Love of Virtue, a Taste for Knowledge, and an early acquaintance with the Works of Nature. The Seventh Edition, Revised and Enlarged.

Warrington, Printed by W. Eyres, for J. Johnson...London, 1788. 8vo, 181 x 109 mms., pp. [7] 8 - 10, [xi] - xxiii [xxiv advert], [3] 4 - 368, including half-title. UNIFORMLY BOUND WITH: PERCIVAL (Thomas): Moral and Literary Dissertations; chiefly intended as the sequel to A Father's Instructions. The Second Edition, Revised and much Enlarged. Warrington, Printed by W. Eyres, for J. Johnson..., London, 1789. 8vo, 181 x 109 mms., pp. xviii [xix adverts, xx blank], [3], 4 - 334 [335 text, 336 blank, 337 - 386 Index], bound in contemporary polished calf, gilt rules on spine, red leather labels; some very slight wear to binding, front joint volume 2 slightly cracked, , but a very good and attractive set, with the autograph and date, "Harriet Comyn, 1791" on the recto of the front free end-paper, and also in her hand, "Given by J. D.," and her larger autograph on the title-page of each volume. Harriet Comyn is possibly the wife of Thomas Comyn (1746/7–1798), vicar of Tottenham and chaplain of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, Harriet Charlotte née Stables. The physician Thomas Percival (1740 - 1804) attend the medical school at the University of Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of David Hume, among others of the Scottish illuminati. The first part of A Father's Instructions was published in 1775, which The Monthly Review for that year endorsed enthusiastically: "These moral tales (written by Dr. Percival of Manchester, for the use of his own children) are well adapted to answer the valuable ends which the Author proposes - inspiring the minds of children with virtuous sentiments, awakening their curiosity, leading them by easy and agreeable steps into the knowledge of nature, and giving them an early taste for propriety and elegance of language." The later work, Moral and Literary Dissertations, met with similar approval in its reviews, with The Critical Review concluding that "These Dissertations are distinguished, like the Author's former productions, by the the genuine marks of a liberal, inquisitive, and philosophical mind, accompanied with delicacy of sentiment, and an excellent taste."