Verlag: LIGHTNING SOURCE INC, 2021
ISBN 10: 1013391160 ISBN 13: 9781013391163
Anbieter: moluna, Greven, Deutschland
Zustand: New.
Verlag: London: for John Wight, 1586, 1586
Anbieter: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, Vereinigtes Königreich
Third edition of Googe's English translation of an extensive manual of husbandry. Googe's version, first printed in 1577 and based on the original German of 1570, is among the most important contributions to early English farming literature and contributed to the advancement of farming technology in the country. The work is composed of four books, each written in the form of a Socratic dialogue between different characters, usually country gentlemen and city dwellers. Drawing from the classical precedents of Columella, Xenophon, and numerous other ancient authors (listed on leaf *** verso), the treatise deals with all aspects of farming and agriculture, with sections on the location of the farm, the tasks of the farmer, manager and servants, climate, soil, crops, harvesting, gardening, and the care of animals. Googe's translation "introduced the more advanced farming techniques of the Lowlands to England, and it is memorable for its description of a reaping machine and recommendation for the growing of turnips, to become an important innovation in English agriculture" (Wood, p. 27). The translation was also expanded by Googe in a few places with his own original translations from selected passages of Virgil's Georgics. It became immensely popular and was reprinted numerous times (in 1578, 1586, 1596, 1601, 1614, and 1631). A considerable portion of the fourth book, covering 40 pages from leaf 191 till the end, is devoted to bees and beekeeping. Heresbach's aim in these pages was "to adapt Roman writings to the needs of northern Europe" (Crane, p. 245), and in the dialogue the discussion is lead by the character of Melisseus (i.e. "honey-man"), who often quotes long passages from the Georgics. There are sections on how to tame bees, how to buy them, carry them, what to do if they don't breed or if they are hunted by hornets, how to tell their age, their diseases and how to cure them, paragraphs on "bees, what angreth them", "bees, plants pleasing them", "bees, smoke good for them", and many more. Provenance: late 19th-century armorial bookplate of Charles Lilburn, of the Lilburn family of Northumberland, likely the Justice of Peace and member of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; contemporary records suggest he was a bibliophile and owned a substantial library. Later in the library of the Lawes Agricultural Trust, with their stamp on Lilburn's bookplate. British Bee Books 9; ESTC S103977; USTC 510537; Walker, p. 33. Ethel Eva Crane, The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting, 1999; Neal Wood, John Locke and Agrarian Capitalism, 2023. Quarto (192 x 145 mm). Contemporary limp vellum, spine lettered by hand in black ink. Large woodcut arms of Barnabe Googe on verso of title, botanical illustration in text, woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf; text in Roman, Gothic, and Greek type, woodcut floriated initials, head and tail-pieces. One marginal annotation in early hand on f. 192v. Some general soiling and natural creasing to vellum, wanting ties, front cover expertly reattached, lower corners of contents a little dog-eared and a couple of short marginal tears, occasional faint damp stains and marks, otherwise clean: overall a very good copy in a contemporary binding.