Conduct book

Conduct books or conduct literature is a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms and ideals. As a genre, they began in either the High Middle Ages or the Late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep (c. 2350 BCE) are among the earliest surviving works. Conduct books remained popular through the 18th century, although they gradually declined with the advent of the novel.