Agriculture - Home economics - OEnology - Lot 115

Agriculture - Home economics - OEnology SERRES (Olivier de) lord of Pradel Le Théâtre d'Agriculture et Mesnage des Champs. Sl. [Paris], Métayer, 1600. Eight books in one volume in folio: 8f. (including engraved title), 1004pp, 9f. (tables, paper missing from margin at foot of one leaf); attractive woodcut vignettes at the head of each book, showing various scenes of the estate: cows, dairy, plowing and sowing in progress; the third illustrates viticulture and the wine press, milking, beehives, landscape gardens, forests and even a hawk hunting scene. 15 engravings in the text (all in book 6 on garden plans), some passages underlined in ink. Engraved title page reinforced at spine, reinforcing band at outer margin of first 3 leaves. Wormholes in foot margin. Old marbled fawn Basane, blackened spine, title-piece partly missing, rubbing and wear from use, epidermal wear, head-cap stretched, corners dulled. Rare first edition of the first major French treatise on agronomy. In this work, Serres devotes substantial sections to hunting, cooking, practical medicine, irrigation, forestry, viticulture, vegetable gardening, medicinal plants, fruit trees, silk cultivation, servant management and more. The author also discusses the duties of the housewife and remedies for all kinds of illnesses suffered by people and animals. The work is divided into eight books, one of which is entirely devoted to wine and grape cultivation. Olivier de Serres wrote this great book, based on his own experience and on classical texts on agriculture. With Henri IV keenly interested in the economic regeneration of France, this work became a manifesto of the king's new policy. Serres became a royal advisor in 1599, advising Henri IV on various agricultural and economic projects (Thiébaud 840). Contents of the eight books: 1/ knowledge and choice of land - 2/ ploughing of wheat land (bread and vegetables) - 3/ vine cultivation - 4/ four-legged livestock and pastures - 5/ henhouse, dovecote, garenne, pond, apiary and silkworm - 6/ vegetable garden, orchard, condiment herbs (including saffron), medicinal and dyeing herbs (woad, madder) - 7/ water and wood, including cutting and maintenance - 8/ food uses, including recipes for various breads, drinks (hypocras, malvoisie, mead, jams, fruit or meat preserves, syrups, sauerkraut, truffles, etc.), ways of accommodating foodstuffs (meat, fish, vegetables, etc.), ways of preparing foodstuffs, etc. - 9/ cooking and preparation of foodstuffs.), how to fit out houses and clothes in the country, medicine for men and beasts, and good behavior in the solitude of the countryside.