The Rural Economy of Glocestershire; including its Dairy: together with the Dairy Management of North Wiltshire; and the Management of Orchards and Fruit Liquor, in Herefordshire.
One folding engraved map. xxviii, 332 pp., [4] pp. of ads; iv, 401 pp., [11] pp. Two vols. 8vo, orig. cloth-backed blue boards, paper labels on spines, uncut. Gloucester: R. Raikes for G. Nicol, 1789.
First edition and a lovely set in fresh original condition. Marshall (1745-1818), wrote a series of studies of farming in various English countries published between 1787 and 1798. The two volumes on Gloucester were the fifth and sixth of the eventual twelve volume series.
“Modern agricultural historians have generally held that Marshall’s works on English farming are superior to those of his rival, Arthur Young, as they are more systematically arranged and based on a more thorough knowledge of a district by personal residence there. Unlike Young, Marshall was cautious about experimentation, preferring rather to advocate the best practices approved by experienced farmers. On the other hand, he lacked Young’s pithy and more readable style, and acquired fewer close contacts with the leading farming figures of the time. Marshall’s career, indeed, suffered in some degree from his native bluntness and acid tongue, his pride, and his sensibility to slights. Nevertheless, from the independence of his views arose his remarkably early support for agricultural education, and his belief in the necessity of studying agriculture on a regional basis, both of which were ideas well before their time.”–ODNB.
Pages 323-32 contain a valuable “Verbal Provincialisms of the Vale of Glocester.” Marshall was interested in dialects and he was the first to form a collection of words peculiar to the Yorkshire dialect. It was appended to the Rural Economy of Yorkshire and contains about eleven hundred words.
Fine set.
❧ Fussell, II, pp. 114-20.
Price: $1,750.00
Item ID: 2692
