Published by H. Hills, for Richard Wodenothe, London, 1651
Seller: Arader Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Very good. First. First edition. London: Printed by H. Hills, for Richard Wodenothe, 1651. Quarto (7 1/16" x 5 1/4", 181mm x 134mm). [Full collation available.] Collated complete against the ESTC and the University of Michigan copies. Bound in later calf (re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down). On the spine, five raised bands. Panels gilt. Title gilt to black calf in the second panel. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. Marbled end-papers. Green silk marking-ribbon. Re-backed (with the original back-strip laid down). With some craquelure and darkening to the edges of the boards. Lower spine-corner dampstain B2-I4, mostly quite mild. A little foxing and tanning to the initials and end-matter, but overall quite a clean copy. Good margins, with several lower deckles preserved. Samuel Hartlib (ca. 1600-1662) was born to an English mother and Polish father, educated in Germany, who moved to England in 1628. He befriended Robert Boyle and John Milton (who dedicated his 1644 On Education to Hartlib), and entered the whirlwind of XVIIc prewar scientific and political advancement in Britain. He eventually came to be a prolific correspondent with many great minds in England and abroad. Once the Civil War came, Hartlib sensibly focused on country pursuits. The year after the present item was published, Hartlib would bring out a second edition of Sir Richard Weston's Discourse on the modes of husbandry (specifically crop rotation) that he had seen in Flanders; this is advertised in the prefatory pages. The Legacie is a series of correspondence; some addressed to Hartlib, some between Hartlib and others and one a public letter. The first has been attributed to Robert Child, one (published) was written by King James VI/I on the cultivation of silkworms, and others to Cressy Dymock. The epistolary collection is a familiar device of the period, and fitting given Hartlib's place as the center of many spokes of curiosity. ESTC R202377, Lowndes 1007, Sabin 30702.
Seller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc., New York, NY, U.S.A.
First Edition
Title within typographical border. 8 p.l., 303 pp. Small 4to, 18th-cent. mottled calf (carefully rebacked by Trevor Lloyd, some occasional browning & soiling), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: J.M. for R. Wodnothe, 1655. Third edition, greatly enlarged (1st ed.: 1651), of one of Hartlib's most substantial works, consisting chiefly of letters to Hartlib by Cressy Dymock and Robert Child. "The Legacie deals with a large variety of subjects, among which are Saint Foine; Ploughs and Carriages; Digging, Setting and Howing; Smut and Mildew; Orchards; Hemp and Flax; Manuring; Bees; Silke-worms; the general ignorance, and various experiments, etc. The reference to the cultivation of lucerne in England is stated by Miss Aslin to be the earliest extant, but the distinction between the various grasses is so vague in these early works that it might be difficult fully to substantiate this remark."-Fussell, I, pp. 43-44. Very good copy.