Bonner, James. A New Plan for speedily increasing the number of bee-hives in Scotland; and which may be extended with equal success, to England, Ireland, America, or to any other part of the world capable of producing flowers.
1st. Ed. Pub. J. Moir, Edinburgh. 1795 pp.[iv], xx, 258, with half-title, title-page, plus advertisement and errata leaf at end. 8vo. Hardback. Contents in fine condition. Handsomely bound in original full-leather boards, tree-calf design with gilt decoration, lightly rubbed, o/w. in thor. vg. condition. More recently re-backed in leather, incorporating the original spine label, fine condition. Harding 151.
‘Bonner who was Bee-Master at Auchencrow, near Berwick-on-Tweed, was the most able and the best known of Scottish bee-men’ (Harding 151).
£525.00 [ref: 56542]

view all images for this item

Bonner, James. A New Plan for speedily increasing the number of bee-hives in Scotland; and which may be extended with equal success, to England, Ireland, America, or to any other part of the world capable of producing flowers.
1st. Ed. Pub. J. Moir, Edinburgh. 1795 pp.[iv], xx, 256. 8vo. Hardback. Half-title, last two pages of index and advertisement provided as loosely inserted facsimiles. Contents in thor. vg. to fine condition. Original marbled boards in vg. condition, showing some wear commensurate with age, with sympathetic more recent, spine in fine condition. Bookplate of David Smith (long-term IBRA Secretary and author) loosely inserted. Harding 151.
‘Bonner who was Bee-Master at Auchencrow, near Berwick-on-Tweed, was the most able and the best known of Scottish bee-men’ (Harding 151).
£200.00 [ref: 54654]

Butler, Rev. Charles. The Feminine Monarchie [Monarchy] or The Historie of Bees. Showing their admirable Nature, and Properties, their Generation, and Colonies, their Government, Loyalty, Art, Industry, Enemies, Warres, Magnanimitie, etc.
Facsimile. Pub. NBB. 1985 Unpaginated. A lovely facsimile of this monumental work. A new hdbk.
Originally published in 1609 and running to four editions, this is a facsimile of the second edition of 1623, preferred since it contains the madrigal which attempted to describe the piping of a queen bee at swarming time. ‘This is the greatest early British bee book and contains the best account of Skep beekeeping which is available today. Butler (1571-1647) was one of the many clergymen who wrote about bees.’ Harding, 18.
£30.00 [ref: 48322]

view all images for this item

Butler, Rev. Charles. (& Owen, John (Ed.)). The Feminine Monarchie or The History of Bees. Showing their admirable nature and properties, their generation and colonies, their government, loyalty, art, industry, enemies, wars, magnanimitie, together with the right ordering of them from time to time: And the sweet profit arising thereof.
Facs. Ed. Pub. Northern Bee Books. 2017 pp.iv, 140 with b/w. photo. and illus. 8vo. A new softback.
This is the first new edition of ‘The Feminine Monarchie’ to be published for over 300 years. It contains a new introduction, as well as annotations and a glossary of the more obscure words used by Butler. The spelling and grammar have been modernised throughout. This edition has been prepared from the 1623 edition, which includes Butler’s famous ‘Bees Madrigal’.
£16.50 [ref: 52275]

Chomel, Noel. A Dissertation on Bees.
Fac. Pub. Elmwood. 1982 pp.8. 4to. A nr. fine softback. Scarce.
This dissertation by Noel Chomel (1632-1712) first appeared in the ‘Dictionaire oeconomique’ published in Paris in 1709. This extract is based on the English edition which had been revised by Richard Bradley (1688-1732) and published in Dublin in 1727. The content is very charming, talking about honey bees and beekeeping. Chomel talks about hives being led by a king.
£12.50 [ref: 54596]

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]

view all images for this item

Hill M.D., John. The Virtues of Honey. In preventing many of the worst disorders and in the certain cures of several others.
2nd. Ed. Facsimile. c.1980 pp.54. 8vo. An unbound facsimile copy of the second edition, 1759, corrected by hand where the copying process missed letters/a word. With the title page being a transcript from the third edition of 1760. Fine condition. Harding 113.
This copy is derived from a photocopy of the 2nd edition of ‘The Virtues of Honey’ which was held in the IBRA library. The collator of this copy has added some interesting bibliographical information.
£22.50 [ref: 55760]

Isaac, Jacob, White, Stephen and White, William. The General Apiarian [bound with] Collateral Bee-Boxes [bound with] A Complete Guide to the Mystery and Management of Bees.
Pub. Exeter; for L. Davis and C. Reymers; for the Author. 1803, 1764 & 1771 A superb sammelband of three very scarce works. 8vo. Hardback. All collated and complete. A handful of leaves and fold-out plate a little browned, o/w. contents in fine condition. Bound in contemporary half-calf over marbled boards a little rubbed, o/w. in thor. vg. condition. Provenance : With bookplate of Henry Thomas Ellacombe and more latterly, part of the Rothamsted Lawes Trust, acquired by them in 1941, with their neat stamp. Harding 156, 109 and 123.
The works comprised herein are the 2nd edition of Isaac’s work and 1st editions of both the works by Stephen White and William White. The 2nd edition of Isaac’s work is more comprehensive and contains details of a hive invented by Mr. James Roberts of Crediton, Devon (complete with illustration of it) that was not included in the 1st edition.
£5,250.00 [ref: 56411]

view all images for this item

Keys, John. The Antient [Ancient] Bee-Master’s Farewell. Or, full and plain directions for the management of bees to the greatest advantage; disclosing further improvements of the hives, boxes, and other instruments, to facilitate the operations; especially that of separating double and treble hives or boxes, with certainty and safety, without injuring the bees.....interspersed with new but important observations.
1st. Ed. Pub. Robinson, London. 1796 pp.xvi, 273 with plate two [of two] present. Contents fine with the exception of an old stain mark to the bottom right corner of the half-title and the plate, which also has some foxing to the margins. More recently rebound in full calf leather binding with raised bands and gilt lettering on spine in fine condition. With neat signature of a previous owner to ffep.
John Keys was a Welsh Bee-keeper and indeed wrote this work from Bee-Hall near Pembroke.
£275.00 [ref: 46829]

view all images for this item

Keys, John. The Antient [Ancient] Bee-Master’s Farewell. Or, full and plain directions for the management of bees to the greatest advantage; disclosing further improvements of the hives, boxes, and other instruments, to facilitate the operations; especially that of separating double and treble hives or boxes, with certainty and safety, without injuring the bees.....interspersed with new but important observations.
1st. Ed. Pub. Robinson, London. 1796 pp.xvi, 273 with two plates. Contents very clean. More recent quarter-calf leather binding with marbled boards. Leather spine has raised bands and gilt lettering. Binding in fine condition also. A lovely copy. Scarce. (Harding 154).
John Keys was a Welsh Bee-keeper and indeed wrote this work from Bee-Hall near Pembroke.
£675.00 [ref: 45360]

view all images for this item