JOHNSTONE, John.

An Account of the most Approved Mode of Draining Land; according to the System practised by Mr. Joseph Elkington…with an Appendix, containing Hints for the farther Improvement of Bogs and other Marshy Ground, after Draining; together with Observations on Hollow and Surface Draining in General…Drawn up for the Consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement…

16 engraved plates (2 folding). xv, 182 pp., one leaf of “Conclusion.” Large 4to, orig. paper-backed boards (spine expertly rebacked to match, some worming in upper margins), uncut. Edinburgh: G. Nicol et al., 1797.

First edition. 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 of land drainage developed by Joseph Elkington (d. 1806), a farmer in Warwickshire and designer of land drainage systems. Elkington was known to be in poor health, and it was feared that knowledge of his innovations might perish with him.

“About 1763 Elkington inherited a farm at Princethorpe, where some years later he discovered, at Long Harold Pits along a geological fault, the method of land drainage for which he is remembered. He discovered by accident, after losing more than 800 sheep to liver rot, how some strata were porous and pervious to water while others were not, and that he could locate the former with the auger used in exploring for marl and coal.”–ODNB.

Many of the attractive plates depict geological strata.

Elkington’s methods were brought to the attention of the Board of Agriculture by the antiquary Charles Towneley and Sir Joseph Banks.

Very good uncut copy. Two of the plates have transparent ink spots touching the images. Faint stamp of the Lawes Agricultural Trust on front paste-down.

❧ Fussell, III, pp. 25-26.

Price: $1,500.00

Item ID: 6462