Farm & Garden from Rabelais - Fine Books on Food & Drink

Paris; Montpellier: Ch[arles] Delegrave et Ce Libraires-Éditeurs; Imprimerie Centrale du Midi Hamelin Frères, 1875. Bibliotèque agricole du Midi, 4. Small octavo (18.5 x 11.5 cm.), 451 pages. Illustrated. Fifth Edition. An unassuming handbook for gardeners, and at the same time a summation of horticultural knowledge by a leading pedagogue in the French tradition. Beginning with a calendar of activities… Read more about this item

New York: C.M. Saxton, Barker & Co., 140 Fulton Street, 1857. Octavo (19 x 12.5 cm.), vii, 120 pages. Illustrated with ten plates containing black & white lithographs. Appendix. Second Printing; first issued in 1856. The Appendix lists prices realized for bushels of cranberries sold from 1850-1855. This work by the Reverend Benjamin Eastwood, spurred an explosion of… Read more about this item

London: Printed by T.R. [i.e. Thomas Ratcliffe] and M.D. [i.e. Mary Daniel] for the Company of Stationers, 1672. Quarto (20 x 15 cm.), [148] pages. Pagination of final leaves of main text being mis-numbered. Signatures: A-T . Text in verse. Printers' names from Wing. A later (likely fourth) edition of just the second book on agriculture in the English… Read more about this item

Lakeville, Mass: [the nursery, 1905. Eight advertising circulars (size ranges from 42 x 29 to 11x17 cm.). Five of the circulars are illustrated with attractive woodcuts. Printed in dark red, lighter red, brownish purple, and black on various colored stocks. A group of circulars or handbills advertising the fruit trees and vines of O.K. Gerrish of Lakeville, Massachusetts. Gerrish… Read more about this item

London: Dulau & Company, Ltd, 1929. Octavo (21.5 x 15 cm.), vii, [1], 133, [3] pages. Illustrated Frontispiece. Top edge gilt. FIRST EDITION, limited to one thousand copies, each SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR (this is no. 978). A great classic of food writing, and an important book for all interested in northern tree fruits and berries. Also contains sections… Read more about this item

Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1906. Bulletin: Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station; no. 12. Octavo, stapled in wrappers (23 x 14.5 cm.), 32 pages; ten pages of plates. Illustrated with black & white photographs. FIRST EDITION. A thorough examination of the state of the mango farming industry in Hawaii at the time, with attention paid to different varieties, etc. Some wear to… Read more about this item

Philadelphia: Zeigler & McCurdy.., 1871. Octavo (22.7 x 15 cm.), 774 pages. Illustrated with one hundred forty-one engravings and two plates including the frontispiece, one in color. Later printing, originally issued by Zeigler in 1868. A practical encyclopedia of information on agriculture, stock raising, family medicine, fruit-culture. A bit of foxing throughout, text block and plates clean and sound;… Read more about this item

New York: James Miller, 647 Broadway, 1872. Octavo (19.3 x 13 cm.), 128, [8] pages. Publisher's advertisements. Later American printing, "from the Twelfth London Edition". A classic of early rustication literature, from the same American publisher that brought us Ten Acres Enough and How to Get a Farm. Our Farm..., with sections on cows, pigs, poultry, pigeons, butter-making, bread… Read more about this item

London: Printed for C.J.G. & F. Rivington, St. Paul's Church-Yard, and Waterloo-Place, Pall-Mall, 1830. Booklet, sewn on cords (22 x 14 cm.), 23 pages. FIRST EDITION. An additional issue was published the same year by Hinde of Lichfield. The author suggests that allotments be supplied to the poor so they might labor at growing some of their own food.… Read more about this item

New York: Wm. H. Wise & Co, 1936. Thick octavo (23.5 x 16 cm.), x, 1300 pages. Illustrated with two hundred fifty half-tones and five hundred line drawings. FIRST EDITION. "A single big volume that gives you the scope and contents of a whole shelf full of garden books." In green cloth, blind- and gilt-titled. A bit of wear… Read more about this item

New-York: Wiley and Putnam; J.P. Wright, Printer, 18 New Street, 1842. Small octavo (11 x 15 cm.), viii, 164 pages. Illustrated with four small black and white in-text drawings. Presumed FIRST & ONLY AMERICAN EDITION. Originally published in Glasgow by W.R. M'Phun. A thorough presentation on the art of rearing bees, pigeons, rabbits and canaries, based on the author's… Read more about this item

[London: Prospect Books, 1983. Duodecimo (17.7 x 10.5 cm.), xii, 216 pages. Illustrated with decorative head- and tail-pieces. Index. All edges gilt. FACSIMILE EDITION of the 1744 original published in London, Printed for R. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall ; And sold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-noster Row. The title continues: Part I: Shewing the best and most… Read more about this item

[Troy, N.Y., 1895. Octavo (19.5 x 12 cm.), 1-2, 59-134 pages. Index. References. Manuscript on printed blank account book. Thirty two pages of handwritten text and illustrations in pencil. An interesting mycological manuscript, in that it is focused on mushroom propagation and not identification. Descriptions of individual varieties are followed by growing specifications. Some of the descriptions are accompanied… Read more about this item

Aalsmeer: van W. Keessen Jr. & Zonen, 1920. Oblong octavo (15.3 x 24.5 cm.), [60] pages. Illustrated with black and white photographic images throughout. Text in Dutch. Stated "Fifth Edition". A trade catalogue of topiary shrubs issued by the Royal Dutch Nursery "Terra Nova." The catalog includes photographs of numerous ornamental shrubs, each identified by number. The topiary forms… Read more about this item

New York: Orange Judd and Co., 245 Broadway, 1874. Small octavo sewn, in wrappers (18.5 x 13 cm.), 120 pages. Illustrated. Frontispiece. Stated "New & Enlarged Edition"; originally published 1866. A book of general instructions for raising poultry, with descriptions of numerous breeds. Includes "Mr. Geyellin's Visit to the Poultry Yards of France". Edges chipped, some light soiling to… Read more about this item

London: Baldwin and Cradock, Paternoster Row, 1832. Series: Library of Useful Knowledge. Octavo (23 x 14 cm.), iv, 151 pages. Illustrated in text with wood engravings. Index. FIRST EDITION. An early 19-century work on planting, mostly arboriculture for trees, with chapters on judicious planting, the structure and growth of trees, approved methods for preparing soil, and with a chapter… Read more about this item

Chicago: American Poultry Journal, 1885. Small octavo (18 x 12 cm.), 135, [32] pages. Illustrated. Advertisements. FIRST EDITION. A guide to poultry production, but through the lens of industrial chicken production. Internally clean and sound. In publisher's orange cloth, titled and decorated in black and gilt. Cloth soiled and with corners bumped; good plus. Pencil ownership inscription to preliminary… Read more about this item

Aberdeen, Scotland: Aberdeen Rare Books, 1978. Two volumes published as one; octavo (22 x 14.4 cm.), 141, v, 187 pages. Illustrated. Index. LIMITED FACSIMILE EDITION, number 227 of 500 numbered copies. Originally published in London by Crosby Lockwood in two separate volumes in 1947 and 1950. A narrative bibliographic description of British agriculture books; volume one dates from 1523… Read more about this item

Washington: The National War Garden Commission, 1918. Octavo-sized booklet, stapled in wrappers (23 x 15 cm.), 32 pages. Illustrated throughout with comics. FIRST EDITION. A work promoting domestic war gardens in the U.S. during World War I, using comics and humor to look at the lighter side of food shortages and gardening. Most of the work reprinted from other… Read more about this item

Billerica, Mass: Published by the Author, 1880. Octavo (24.5 x 15.5 cm.), 202, [26] pages. Advertisements. Illustrated. Errata slip. FIRST EDITION. The first American book on silos and ensilage, from the owner of Winning Farm in Billerica, Mass, and Virginia Stock Farm in Sussex County, Virginia. Original burgundy cloth, blind-decorated and gilt-titled. Near fine.