Del Nuovo Concime….
Bound with 16 further works on faming in 19th-century Italy (see below for full contents and collations). Bound in contemporary marbled thick cartonnage with manuscript title to spine, some toning to margins and occasional light spotting, but overall a very well-preserved volume of ephemeral publications. Extensive sammelband of 17 early 19th-century Italian agricultural treatises relating to exotic crops, pest control, farm storage, seed scattering, etc. Cotton, peanuts, potatoes, wheat, swedes (a root vegetable popular in England), clover, apples, and other crops are discussed, as is an American decorative annual, Madia sativa, which appears to have been cultivated during the middle the 19th century for its seed oil. Several of the tracts contain lithographed or engraved folding plates depicting farm machinery, crop seeds, and storage facilities. Many items have not been located in OCLC, or ICCU; others are known in only a handful of Italian copies. Most of them are not digitalized. The strong representation of foreign crops (including three treatises on the potato and its uses) may reflect the interests of the contemporary owner of this volume, or it may simply be an indication of a prevalent interest in exotics during this period. The potato and peanut are clearly new introductions to Italian agriculture, and Amoretti and the more famous Dandolo are careful to discuss not only the cultivation of the root but its storage and preparation for consumption. Similarly, the anonymous monograph on peanuts (“pistacchios of the earth”) gives a folding table at the rear depicting the lamentable state of peanut farming in Europe, with shockingly low yields in countries such as Spain and more impressive results under the direction of academic institutions in Northern Italy. The landowner Alessandro Funaioli’s extremely rare treatise on crop pests is included here, detailing their prevention, cure, and the care of afflicted plants. Agriculture by this period was clearly a European-wide science: The latest discoveries in the cultivation of swedes in furrows as practiced in England are discussed with great interest, as are the latest advancements in soil management from France, while the final tract is itself in the French language. Item #16, Galiani includes a curious feature of book history interest which we have not encountered before: On the front wrapper, the price of the volume’s physical production is meticulously justified by breaking it down into cost per printed sheet, the cost of the engravings, and even the orange printed wrappers (16 centesimi) to account for the total cost of 3 lire! Full contents: 1. COSTETTI, Raimondo. Del Nuovo Concime…sulla Nuova, Utile ed Importante Scoperta per l’Agricultura, fatta in Francia dal Signor Pietro Jauffret […]. Florence, Bencini, 1838. 42 pp, large folding lithographed plate showing process for recovering urine from domestic animals. Original blue wrappers with engraved vignette to rear cover. Repaired closed tear to plate. ICCU 2556463 (2 copies, only ed). 2. BISSARI, Pietro. Metodo…di Liberare dal Grongo o Lovero i Trifogli e le Erbe Spagne. Milan, Cairo, 1809. Uncut. Original blue wrappers with bookseller’s label. 14 pp, folding engraved plate of life-size seed types. ICCU 005230 (3 copies, 2nd ed). 3. [NO AUTHOR]. Osserbazioni Pratiche sulle Novita Agrarie della Fattoria di Meleto. Florence, Galletti, 1837. 23 pp. Not in ICCU. 4. BALZARI, Pietro & COMOLLI, Giuseppe. Sulla Coltivazione della Madia Sativa. Como, Ostinelli, 1840. 18 pp. Not in ICCU. 5. [NO AUTHOR]. [Running title]: Instruzione dell’Academia dei Georgofili sulla Maniera di Coltivare il Cotone in Toscana. [Final leaf]: Firenze, Residenza Academica, 1808. 16 pp. ICCU 005645 & 012225 (5 copies, only edition). 6. UN AGENTE DI CAMPAGNA. Memorie Ragionate sulla Coltivazione dell’Arachide ossie Pistacchio di Terra. Modena, Vicenzi, 1836. 16 pp, large folding table at rear comparing peanut yields in various regions of Europe. Original printed yellow wrappers with price, publisher’s adverts for other agricultural titles to rear cover. ICCU 0060754 (4 copies, only edition). 7. RIMBOTTI, Verdiano. Memoria sopra il metodo di Coltivar le Patate…e sulla Maniera di Panizzarle e Conservarle. Seconda Edizione. Florence, Ciardetti, 1817. Uncut. 96 pp. ICCU 002695 (2 copies). 8. AMORETTI, Carlo & DANDOLO, Vicenzo. Della Coltivazione delle Patate e loro Uso Istruzione. Florence, Ciardetti, 1817. XI, [2] ff, 109 pp, folding engraved plate of potato processing equipment, [1] ff. ICCU 000264 & 014888 (10 copies, only ed with Dandalo’s treatise). 9. MARIOTTI, G. l’Agricoltore Economico Moderno Sperimentato. Pisa, Pieraccini, 1849. 51 pp. Original green printed wrappers, price to rear cover. ICCU 0011584 (1 copy, only edition). 10. FUNAIOLI, Alessandro. Avvertimenti sulle Malattie degli Agricoltori e su i Mezzi di Prevenirle e Curarle. Pistoia, Cino, 1844. 87 pp, (1). ICCU 0662881 (1 copy, only edition) 11. HUZARD, G. B., figlio. Della Coltivazione de’ Navoni in Solchi…aggiuntovi quella de’ Pomi di Terra e delle Fave e Piselli. Milan, Pirotta, 1829. 80 pp, 2 folding engr plates of instruments, some engraved figures in text. ICCU 006381 & 001158 (4 copies, only edition) 12. TADDEI, Gioacchino. Sugli Uffici dell’ humus o Terriccio nella Vegetazione. [Journal offprint]. 15 pp. Contemporary blue wrappers, presentation inscription to front cover. ICCU 0600142 (1 copy, only edition) 13. DE VECCHI, Domenico. Dell’Azione degli’Ingrassi e del Loro Stato per un piu Utile Impiego. [Final leaf]: Firenze, Monnier, [1843?]. 14 pp. ICCU 0401929 (5 copies, only edition). 14. PASSERINI, Giorgio Ferdinando. Delle Semente Autunnali del MDCCCXIII. Florence, 1814. 17 pp. Not in ICCU. 15. [NO AUTHOR]. Ceno Storico dei principali Instituti di Agricoltura in Europa [Journal extract]. [Florence, 1838?]. 20 pp. Not in ICCU. 16. GALLIANI, Ferdinando & INTIERI, Bartolomeo. Della Perfetta Conservazione del Grano. Milan, Giovanni Silvestri, 1821. VIII, 172 pp, (4), 4 folding engraved plates of agricultural structures (buildings and machines). Original printed orange wrappers with advertisements to covers and detailed price breakdown of the publication (sheets, tables, wrappers)! ICCU 000398 (4 copies, 2nd edition). 17. M. d’ARTIGUES. Memoire sur la Conservation des Bles. Paris, Madame Huzard, 1820. [Journal offprint]. 14 pp, large folding engraved plate of grain storage facility. * No. 8 is recorded as Bagnasco 64 as well as Westbury 10.
Price: $3,850.00