A Compleat Body of Husbandry.

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Thomas Hale,

A Compleat Body of Husbandry.

London: Printed for T. Osborne and J. Shipton in Gray’s-Inn (and others) MDCCLVI (1756) (but 1755 - 1756)

Hale’s monumental work, that is perhaps the finest English Farm Management book to come out of the 18th Century. Here in the First Edition, complete in all respects.

$1,250.00

Hale’s monumental work, that is perhaps the finest English Farm Management book to come out of the 18th Century. Here in the First Edition, complete in all respects.

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Hale’s monumental work, that is perhaps the finest English Farm Management book to come out of the 18th Century. Here in the First Edition, complete in all respects.

The volume(s) measure about 41 cm. by 26 cm. by 7 cm.

Each leaf measures about 405 mm. by 255 mm.

The full title reads:

A Compleat Body of Husbandry. Containing rules for performing, in the most profitable manner, the whole business of the farmer, and country gentleman, in Cultivating, Planting, and Stocking of Land; in Judging of the several Kinds of Seeds, and of Manures; and in the Management of Arable and Pasture Grounds: together with The most approved Methods of Practice in the several Branches of Husbandry, From Sowing the Seed, to Getting in the Crop; and In Breeding and Preserving Cattle, and Curing their Diseases. To which is annexed, The whole Management of the Orchard, the Brewhouse, and the Dairy. Compiled from the original papers of the late Thomas Hale, Esq; And enlarged by many New and Useful Communications on Practical Subjects, From the Collections of Col. Stevenson, Mr. Randolph, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Storey, Mr. Osborne, the Rev. Mr. Turner, and others. A Work founded on Experience; and calculated for general Benefit; consisting chiefly of Improvements made by modern Practitioners in Farming; and containing many valuable and useful Discoveries, never before published. Illustrated with a great number of cuts, containing Figures of the Instruments of Husbandry; of useful and poisonous Plants, and various other Subjects, engraved from Original Drawings. Published by his Majesty’s Royal Licence and Authority. London: Printed for T. Osborne and J. Shipton in Gray’s-Inn; J. Hodges on London-Bridge; T. Trye near Gray’s-Inn Gate; and S. Crowder and H. Woodgate in Pater-Noster Row, M.DCC.LVI. [1756] [1755-56]

The volume is paginated as follows: iv, [4], 1 – 108 719 [i.e.723], [1] p.

Complete with 12 plates (one folding) and the two supplementary leaves not always present. First Edition. The two supplementary leaves are inserted between pp. 108 and 109 and between pp. 112 and 113 in this copy. It appears that the position of the two extra leaves varies from copy to copy

Issued in 61 numbers from 28 June 1755 to 21 August 1756. Subscribers would then have the numbers bound up.

ESTC T30997; Goldsmiths’ 9099; Fussell, More Old English Farming Books, p. 37.

 

The volume in a near fine restored condition. Bound in blind-stamped full-reverse calf, re-backed to style in calf with seven compartment and six raised bands with the original 18th C red lettering piece in the second compartment. The boards and corners have been professionally restored neatly replacing any missing or worn sections. Internally the leaves are well margined and generally clean, but with some water stains to the first 48 pages as well as some minor foxing throughout. The binding remains firm, the book block quite strong and can be easily opened and read. New endpapers.

Please take the time to view the slideshow in order to gain a finer appreciation of the contents and condtion.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Of Thomas Hale

Thomas Hale (died c. 1759) was an 18th-century British writer on agriculture, known from his A Compleat Body of Husbandry, 1756.

Little is known about Thomas Hale’s life, as no records exist. He probably died around 1759.

His main work was A Compleat Body of Husbandry, published in 1756 in one large folio volume that was quickly followed by a Dublin edition the following year and a three-volume second edition the year afterwards. The work was translated into French by Jean-Baptiste Dupuy-Demportes and published in 1763 as Le gentilhomme cultivateur, ou corps complet d’agriculture.

Hale’s posthumous book, gathered from his papers, provides a valuable snapshot of the methods of British farming in the middle of the century, and incorporates many of the new discoveries and technologies in agriculture and husbandry which had recently been introduced.

The British The Complete Farmer: Or, a General Dictionary of Husbandry by members of the Royal Society, first published from 1756 to 1768, considered Thomas Hale among the foremost agriculturists of the time. The 3rd edition of The Complete Farmer (1777) listed Hale in the subtitle of this work among other foremost authorities, such as Carl Linnaeus, Louis François Henri de Menon, Hugh Plat, John Evelyn, John Mortimer, John Worlidge, Jethro Tull, William Ellis, Philip Miller, Edward Lisle, Roque, John Mills, and Arthur Young.

George Washington owned a copy of A Compleat Body of Husbandry.

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