Rural Rides

From Wikipedia:

Rural Rides is the book for which the English journalist, agriculturist and political reformer William Cobbett is best known At the time of writing in the early 1820s, Cobbett was a radical anti-Corn Law campaigner, newly returned to England from a spell of self-imposed political exile in the United States

Cobbett disapproved of proposals for remedies for agricultural distress suggested in Parliament in 1821 He made up his mind to see rural conditions for himself, and to "enforce by actual observation of rural conditions" the statements he had made in answer to the arguments of the landlords before the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee

He embarked on a series of journeys by horseback through the countryside of Southeast England and the English Midlands He wrote down what he saw from the points of view both of a farmer and a social reformer The result documents the early 19th-century countryside and its people as well as giving free vent to Cobbett's opinions

He first published his observations in serial form in the Political Register, between 1822 and 1826 Four rides â€" from 1822, 1823, 1825 and 1826 â€" were first published in book form in two volumes in 1830 In 1853, his son James published an expanded edition, including rides from 1821, as well as his father's 1830-32 political tours to the Midlands, North and Scotland

This copy is fine in blue cloth with gilt titles on the spine No marks or damage at all The unclipped DJ shows just very slight edge wear

"Gift quality"