AUSTEN, Ralph.

£2,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Observations upon some part of Sr Francis Bacon's Naturall History as it concernes, Fruit-trees, Fruits, and Flowers: First edition. Ralph Austen (c. 1612-1676) is a fascinating figure, a combination of self-taught gardener and religious radical, whose "approach to horticulture was innovative, experimental, and sceptical of the authority of theorists" (ODNB). Here he challenges Sir Francis Bacon over his theory of the descent of sap, opposing the findings of his friend Robert Boyle, the book's dedicatee. Madan comments that the "treatise is practical as well as critical, and affords advice of various kinds".Provenance: from the Lawes Agricultural Library, with their neat stamp to rear endpaper and small pencilled shelf mark to title page. The library was assembled in the early 20th century by Sir John Russell, director of the Rothamsted agricultural research institution in Hertfordshire, and ranked as one of the finest English collections of agricultural material.

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