BUSSATO, Marco.

by Marco Bussato

£3,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

A good copy of the first edition of this successful work on horticulture. Marco Bussato (Bussati or Busatti, first half of the 16th century after 1600) was born in Ravenna. Orphaned at an early age, he earned his living as an itinerant expert of arboreal grafting: he visited many places in Italy and Rome in particular, learning the agricultural practices of different regions. A manual based on his experience, Giardino d agricoltura presents horticulture as an art of which its readers will learn the most beautiful secrets . Bussato s perspective is that of a vigilant and attentive landowner. A rather aristocratic point of view evident in the distinction that he makes between useful and delightful agriculture, despising herbaceous plants that require "great effort and sweat" and concentrating on tree crops, that bring "joy to the eye". The latter are more suitable for the gentleman, and indispensable elements of that taste for the landscape that dominates Renaissance agriculture. The 64 chapters focus on the growth of fruit trees, with a few excursions into the cultivation of cereals, the production of wine, breeding pigeons, and other country activities. In spite of its title, Bussato s main subject is fruit trees, from seedlings in their nursery to the careful pruning of mature trees, illustrated with some of the first accurate and detailed diagrams of methods of grafting. These illustrations first appeared in the author s Prattica historiata dell inestare gli arbori , a trea

• Binding: Hardcover

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