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Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, …, 1888

According to this book's frontispiece, Joseph Toner wrote it exactly from a paper found among the early writings of George Washington. The words Washington penned, however, were not original; the 110 rules published in this book were copied from Francis Hawkins's Youth's Behavior or Decency in Conversation Amongst Men (1668). Nevertheless, the rules in this book give readers an idea of the manners, character, and traits that the first American president possibly admired or hoped to replicate.

Courtesy National Library of Medicine