Attributed to Thomas Hale (2 results)

Edition : The Second Edition, Contemporary full calf; with six raised bands; compartments with blind floral ornament; gilt lettered red morocco label on 2. All edges red. , John Hill lived from 1712 or 1714 ? 1775; he was apothecary, studied botany and travelled the country for search of rare plants in order to increase profits; he held a medical degree from Edinborough and made ?considerable sums by the preparation of vegetable medicines? Today he is remembered for his work as British botanist and for his writings involving ?him in many quarrels, both in the field of science and that of literature.? George Rousseau said the following about him: ?Sir John Hill (1714?1775) was one of Georgian England?s most vilified men despite having contributed prolifically to its medicine, science and literature. ? Yet by the time he died, he had been knighted by the Swedish monarch and become a household name among scientists and writers throughout Britain and Europe.? He (together with possibly other authors) published this volume in the exact same form as Thomas Hale?s "The Compleat Body of Husbandry", published only one year earlier in London by the same printers. The present first edition was in effect the collection of weekly, illustrated guides on gardening ? published between 1756 and 1757 for approximately 60 weeks, each edition with one engraved plate; this was later published under the present title ?Eden, or a Compleat Body of Gardening? The title mentions that the book was ?compiled and digested from the papers of the late celebrated Mr. Hale by the authors of the ?Compleat Body of Husbandry? ?, Size : Folio (416x265mm). , Illustrated frontis plus 80 floral plates of which 61 are part of the main text - one of these plates, on p. 80, is unnumbered and plate #1 is hand-coloured; 19 plates are part of an appendix., References : DONB 848; Henrey III 776; Nissen Br. Bot. 880; Dunthorne 129; , Frontis, title, blank, dedication (2), 712, appendix 713-716 with plates 61-79, contents (2), Preface (2), index (2), printer?s device. Mispaginations: 592 (as 584), 593 (as 595), 596 as 598 696 (as 695). With appendix (additional 19 plates) Scratches and abrasions to covers; minor browning to text leaves; otherwise a very good copy. Plates and text are generally clean and crisp.…

Folio 15 1/2 x 10 inches, full period calf, restored. Engraved frontispiece, title, iv, ii, 714, (i). Illustrated with 60 fine engraved plates. Some mispagination to the text but complete with the unusual final leaf being an 'Answer to the Proprietors of the Complete Body of Gardening.' to various objections. The occasional spot and the last plate slightly creased but a GOOD COPY. Intended as a companion to the Compleat Body of Husbandry (London, 1756), this work was designed along very unusual lines for the period- each weekly part includes information on what should be done in the garden during the following week together with descriptions of the plants that should be at their peak at that time. Sir John Hill was industrious and energetic, and his writings show him to have been a man of real ability and genius. He pursued a number of careers: apothecary, practical botanist, author, gardener (he apparently assisted in the laying out of a botanic garden in Kew, and was gardener at Kensington Palace).…