Pomona: or, the Fruit-Garden Illustrated by Batty Langley - 1729: Containing Sure Methods for Improving all the Best Kinds of Fruits now Extant in England

Very good copy of a classic of English 18th-century pomological literature.

With 79 beautiful fruit plates drawn by Batty Langley, and engraved on copper by Thomas Bowles, John van der Gucht, James Smith, John Carwitham, etc.

With 79 engraved plates, of which 11 are double (double plates with two Pl. numbers). The fruits include many varieties of apples, pears, plums, figs, cherries and strawberries as you would expect in a British orchard, but there are also many grape varietals (Muscadine, Frontinac, Lombard, Brick, Burgundy, Esperione, Claret, White Raisin, etc.) to remind the reader that wine grapes had been grown in England since the Roman era.

Batty Langley (1696-1751) was an English gardener from Twickenham, who later became a landscape gardener, Freemason, and finally architect promoting the Gothic Revival. Among his many books were An Accurate Description of Newgate (written while he was imprisoned there for debt) 1724, New Principles of Gardening 1728, Pomona 1729, Ancient Masonry 1733~, Ancient Architecture 1742 (reissued as Gothic Architecture in 1747), A Survey of Westminster Bridge as 'tis Now Sinking into Ruin 1748, etc.

"The handsomest English 18-century production devoted to the culture of fruit, and is considered to contain fewer errors and more valuable information. than. any work heretofore published in this country." (Blanch Henrey, British Botanical and Horticultural Literature before 1800, vol. II, p. 471).

20th century rebind in half black leather, spine with five raised bands and blind-stamped title and date, green cloth boards, a few marks and spots to leather and cloth. New endpapers reinforced with tape at the hinges, interior text and plates mostly clean and bright with slight age-toning to edges, a few spots of foxing mostly outside the plate mark.

A similar copy (but in a contemporary binding) sold at Bonhams, London, on 12 Oct. 2022 for 3,570 pounds.

Very good copy of an "Interesting and important work on fruits, rarely seen...' (Dunthorne).