Description:
4to, pp. xvi, [iv], 197, [2] approbation, [1] blank; with five engraved plates; woodcut title vignette and head- and tailpieces; occasional very light foxing, but largely clean and fresh thoughout; uncut in contemporary pink boards, title in ink at head of spine; binding partly detached from bookblock, joints worn, and a few ink and other marks on covers, but still an attractive copy.First edition, uncommon outside France, of this guide to the keeping of English sheep, with particular focus on the land management that enables their grazing.
Encouraged by the late civil engineer and administrator Daniel-Charles Trudaine, Mante's first aim is to advise on the raising of English sheep in the face of a degree of French prejudice against them, but he wants to emphasise that it is through proper land management and the creation of 'terres labourées, prairies artificielles' that this is best to be accomplished. The creation of these is 'a true conquest, an acquisition, an appropriation that enriches one… Read More