BLITH, Walter.

£2,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The English Improover, or a new Survey of Husbandry. One of two 1649 editions, of unestablished priority. Walter Blith (1605-1654) has been called by Robert Trow-Smith "the greatest of the mid-seventeenth century writers" in the field of agriculture (English Husbandry, 1951). In this work, Blith advocates draining and making water meadows, inclosure, the use of manures, and plantations."In spite of the currently fashionable interlarding of Biblical references and quotations his directions are surprisingly clear: but like many another he was too far in advance of his time to be generally heeded, and it was more than a century later before any real progress was made with the improvements he advocates" (Fussell, p. 53).There were two editions in 1649 (most easily distinguished by their titles, the present "English Improover" and the separate "English Improver"). Wing placed this edition as the first, although "Improver" is also commonly cited as such. "Improver" is roughly double the pagination, and the Thomason Collection copy has a note of accession of December, both evidence that it is the second edition. Expanded third and fourth editions followed in 1652 and 1653.

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