Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus. Of Husbandry. In Twelve Books: And His book Concerning Trees. 1st. Eng. Ed. Pub. A. Millar 1745
pp.xiv, 600 plus index. Intermittent foxing. Hinges neatly repaired. Red sprinkle decoration to fore-edges of text block. More recent quarter calf spine added to contemporary boards showing some rubbing. With contemporary armorial bookplate of Thomas Boswall Esq. of Blackadder and with ‘W. Phorson’s Circulating Library’ label (c.1800) to front paste-down. Contents very clean, with a little scattered foxing. Overall a vg. copy. (Harding 98).
Columella is considered the most important writer on agriculture of the Roman Empire. ‘Of Husbandry’ is a fascinating work with chapters dedicated to beekeeping, the husbandry of land, vines, livestock, poultry and fruit growing. ‘Columella, a Spaniard [believed of Roman parentage], wrote about a century after Virgil. He saw service in the East and then settled on an estate near Rome. Probably a commercial beekeeper, he gave very detailed and well conceived advice on many aspects of apiary management, including requeening, uniting and migratory beekeeping’ (Fraser).
£775.00 [Ref: 46415]