Three folding engraved plates. 32 pp. 8vo, cont. half-calf & marbled boards (upper joint a little cracked but strong), flat spine lettered in gilt. London: T. Hookham, 1786.

First edition and very rare; WorldCat locates no copy in North America. Following Jethro Tull’s invention and perfection of the seed drill, there were numerous others who developed modifications and further improvements. The text of this anonymous work describes the construction of William Winlaw’s drill ploughs in great detail — as illustrated on the fine plates. The ploughs were available from “Winlaw, Engine-maker, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square.” He also invented a very successful threshing machine... More

iv, 51, [1] pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: B. White and Son et al., 1788.

First edition. Land enclosure in 18th-century Britain was highly controversial: it consolidated small landholdings into larger farms, ceasing to be common land for communal use. Oftentimes, landowners, including the Church, were not adequately compensated upon suffering enclosure on their properties.

Turner (1739-1826), took his degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and was rector of Wing. This work was written on the occasion of the enclosure of one of his livings, given to him by the Crown in 1788... More

4 p.l., 237 pp., one leaf of register. Small 4to, cont. vellum over boards, contrasting leather lettering piece on spine. Florence: Stamperia Moücke, 1765.

First edition of what appears to be the first book on bread to be issued in Italy. Manetti (1723-85), was a physician, director of the botanical garden at Florence, and co-founder of the Academy of Georgofili, the first European agricultural academy. He corresponded with most of the leading scientists of Europe.

In this work, Manetti describes the different species of wheat and how to make bread from other flours, including corn, rye, and buckwheat and those obtained... More

103 pp. 8vo, cont. marbled boards (carefully rebacked in calf), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author, 1793.

First edition and quite scarce. “This excellent practical treatise, the last chapter of which is devoted to the forcing of vines, was published in an enlarged edition in 1787. The author, Thomas Kyle, gardener to David Stewart Moncrieff of Moredun, near Edinburgh, was considered by Loudon to be one ‘of the first gardeners in Scotland of his time.’ The owner of Moredun, David Stewart Moncrieff (1710-90)…purchased the estate of Goodtrees, about three miles from Edinburgh…It is recorded that... More

Folding engraved frontis. & 18 folding engraved plates. [iii]-xvi, [one leaf of ads], 211, [1] pp. 8vo, mid-19th-cent. half-olive sheep & cloth, upper cover stamped in blind “Carolus Porcher de Clyffe” with his arms, binder’s ticket “Bound by S. Mepham, Dorchester,” spine gilt, red leather lettering piece on spine. London: R. Phillips, 1808.

“Third edition, corrected and enlarged” (the first edition appeared in 1797, and there were a total of five editions through 1841). Johnstone (d. 1838), an Edinburgh surveyor, was promised a grant of £1000 by the recently formed Board of Agriculture to provide a detailed and accurate account of the system... More

4 p.l., 100 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: W. Richardson, 1787.

First edition and quite scarce. Rev. Howlett (1731-1804), economist and writer on the poor, took his BA at St John’s College, Oxford. Most of his writings concentrated on the well-being of the poor, an issue for which he was well equipped as an able statistician and demographer.

It was widely felt in the 18th century that England and Wales were experiencing depopulation. Howlett argued the opposite: that the population of these two countries “had doubled since 1688 and was... More

One large folding engraved frontis. plate & one folding plate. 2 p.l., 43, [1] pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Canterbury: Printed for the Author…, 1786.

First edition and very rare; ESTC locates only one copy in North America. Following Jethro Tull’s invention and perfection of the seed drill, there were numerous others who developed modifications and improvements. The great advance made by Horn, a resident of Dover, was to design and patent a sowing machine that could plant every kind of seed. Pages 36-43 contain a minute description of the ten figures on the... More

Engraved vignette on title & three folding engraved plates. 252 pp. 8vo, cont. half-vellum & boards (boards slightly soiled, two very small wormholes to title touching three letters), spine gilt, green leather lettering piece on spine, uncut. Vicenza: nella Stamperia Turra, 1784.

First edition of this uncommon book on wheat, corn, and other cereals. Harasti, a member of the Hungarian noble Haraszthy family of Buda, was a Franciscan friar who wrote many books on agriculture. He belonged to several scientific and agricultural societies in Italy, and this work was awarded a prize by the Accademia Agraria di Vicenza in 1783.

In this work, Harasti provides a complete account of wheat, corn, and other cereals suitable for growing in Italy, methods of planting and cultivation, techniques to prevent diseases from affecting the crops, when and how to harvest, and methods of preventing the harvested grains from being contaminated by fungi and rodents while in storage. There are extensive discussions of the different species of the cereals and which are the most appropriate for different regions of Italy. More

One hand-colored engraved plate. xix, 51 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards (some foxing), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: C. Dilly & J. Phillips, 1787.

“Second edition” (but see below) of this translation of Commerell’s work on the mangel wurzel, an uncommon beet developed in the 18th century as a fodder crop for livestock and, when harvested young, an excellent source of nutrition for humans. Commerell (d. 1799), chaplain to the Princess of Lowenstein in the German Lorraine and a member of the Société d’Agriculture de Paris, was interested in husbandry and wrote a monograph in French on... More

Seven engraved plates (several folding). viii, 177 pp. Large 4to, early 19th-cent. half-calf & marbled boards (some scuffing), flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: Printed by W. Bulmer for G. Nicol et al., 1795.

First edition of the Board of Agriculture’s famous report on the potato. During the final four decades of the 18th century Britain experienced a number of corn harvest failures with a resulting rise in the price of wheat. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the Board of Agriculture, and various private individuals advocated the adoption of the potato as a substitute... More

Two fine engraved titles within ruled borders. 1 p.l. (engraved title), xi, 98, [2] (engraved title), [99]-114 pp. Two parts in one vol. 8vo, cont. red straight-grained morocco (spine a little faded), sides decorated in gilt, flat spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. Exeter: Printed by S. Woolmer for the Author, 1796.

First edition, and very rare, of this early work on agricultural chemistry; not in ESTC or WorldCat. This is a handsomely printed provincial book, produced on thick paper and in a most attractive contemporary binding. The anonymous author, who had “all my life made the Vegetable world my study,” recommends the... More

viii, 268 pp. 8vo, early 19th-cent. marbled boards (spine defective). Amsterdam: P. Yver, [1785].

The extremely rare French edition (there was an edition in Dutch the same year) of this catalogue of an impressive sale. A contemporary annotator has supplemented it with prices, buyers’ names, and commentary on the artworks, almost all dismissive, in the margins. Van Slingelandt (1701-82), a great patron of the arts who lived in Dordrecht, amassed one of the most notable Dutch painting collections of the 18th century. This heavily annotated volume is the first and most important part of the sale, describing 701(!) paintings along with eight... More