19th-cent. russia, sides panelled in gilt & blind, gilt arms in center of the Pelham-Clinton family. Italy, perhaps Tuscany: early 15th century.

A fine manuscript, from the celebrated library of the dukes of Newcastle in Clumber, of this important fourth-century Roman treatise on agriculture. It enjoyed wide popularity in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, owing to its clear arrangement, with the farming and gardening tasks subdivided according to the twelve months of the year. It “was clearly more useful than that of any of Palladius’ predecessors. This fact alone may explain the preservation of his text and its popularity compared... More about Manuscript on vellum of Opus Agriculturae, 112 leaves (the first blank), small 4to (155 x 115...

This archive includes hundreds of documents, manuscript and printed, including original detailed drawings, blueprints, schematics, government reports (some classified), photographs, rubbings, & various ephemera. Nara, Kyoto, & Tokyo: 1903-38.

An important archive. Inamori, a native of Nara, was a prominent government architect and engineer specializing in the reconstruction, renovation, and preservation of shrines and temples. Over the course of his 40-year career, which he began as a trainee in Kyoto’s regional department devoted to preserving monuments, he participated in and led innovative efforts to rebuild, restore, and preserve Japan’s most iconic temples and shrines, such as Todai-ji, Horyu-ji, Daikaku-ji, and the Byodo-in... More about The professional archive of Kenji Inamori (active 1903-44), prominent architect & engineer in...

Large woodcut on title of an astronomer studying an armillary sphere in front of a starry sky by Hans Burgkmair & nine woodcuts in the text. 40 unnumbered leaves. Small 4to, cont. limp vellum, title written in a contemporary hand on upper cover, with the orig. nine-link chain attached to the lower cover with the orig. chain swivel & ring at other end, orig. deerskin ties. Augsburg: V. Otmar, 1548.

A fine copy of the “first German encyclopedia” of general knowledge, here bound in a very remarkable chained binding. Most surviving chained bindings are substantial folios; our example is a smaller format book with... More about M. Elucidarius von allerhand geschöpffen Gottes, den Engeln, den Himeln, Gestirns, Planeten, und...

65 woodcut scenes. 20 panels (each panel measuring 160 x 75 mm.), joined in accordion style (orihon). Total length: 1315 mm. Each panel printed by woodblock. Japan: mid- to late-Edo.

Sutras, sacred texts believed to preserve the actual words of the historical Buddha, were written or printed as a major industry in many temples in Japan. By the 7th century, sutra copying was an organized activity, and this tradition of copying or printing sutras has continued to the present day.

Originally, sutras were maintained as oral traditions, passed from one generation to the next amongst a largely illiterate and poor population. But there was another... More about An extremely rare kind of sutra — Shingyo or E Shingyo — created for the largely illiterate...

One full-page woodcut illus. & music printing. 16 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (rubbed), new stitching. [Japan]: ca. 1684-1704.

First edition and, apparently, unique; no copy is located in WorldCat or Union Catalogue of Japanese Books. The miyogiri is a type of shakuhachi, an end-blown three-node bamboo flute with five finger holes. The various types of shakuhachi flutes have been some of Japan’s most popular instruments. They were brought from China in the 8th century and became popular in 17th-century Japan when they were adopted by itinerant Buddhist beggar priests (komuso) of the Fuke sect... More about From the block-printed title label on upper cover: Rangyoku miyogiri shoshinsho [Detailed...

Modern brown morocco (a few small wormholes, occasionally touching a few letters, more pronounced in the final leaf). [England: early 14th century].

An important early 14th-century manuscript of Walter of Henley’s Husbandry, the most widely read of several notable treatises on agriculture that survive from mid- or late 13th-century England. This manuscript exhibits notable differences from other surviving examples (see below).

Little is known of Walter of Henley (fl. 1260). “From what the treatise says of estate administration at a time when methods were changing, it seems likely that it was written in the 1250s or 1260s. It is... More about Decorated manuscript on vellum, in Anglo-Norman French, of Walter of Henley’s Hosbondrye, seven...

34 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Dublin: W. Porter, 1809.

First edition and quite rare. Richardson (1740-1820), political activist and geologist, devoted his final years to agricultural research. He “experimented with sixteen grasses, as described in An Elementary Treatise on the Indigenous Grasses of Ireland (1806). From 1808 he was a zealous advocate of fiorin grass (Gaelic fioreann) (Agrostis stolonifera L) as food for animals, a preventive of famine, and a means of abating the poor laws. He believed it to be the most nutritious of grasses, with the advantages of late... More about Plan for Reclaiming the Bog of Allen, and the Other Great Morasses, in Ireland; addressed to the...

103 pp. 8vo, cont. marbled boards (carefully rebacked in calf), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author, 1783.

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 about A Treatise on the Management of Peach and Nectarine Trees; either in Forcing-Houses, or on Hot...

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 about An Account of the Mode of Draining Land, according to the System practised by Mr. Joseph...

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 about Enclosures, a Cause of improved Agriculture, of Plenty and Cheapness of Provisions, of...

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 about The Description and Use of the new Invented Patent Universal Sowing Machine, for Broad-Casting or...

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 about Della più utile Coltivazione del Frumento Memoria…