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Ex typographiâ Jos Barbou, viâ Mathurinensium
Michael Laird, bookseller, description: 8vo. Engraved frontispiece by Gravelot engraved by Longueil. xvi, 427, [5] pp. Contemporary French red morocco, triple gilt fillets around sides, smooth spine gilt, olive morocco label, a.e.g., blue silk pastedowns and endpapers. Gorgeous copy in contemporary French red morocco; from the esteemed library of Robert Pirie, with his bookplate. An extremely elegant edition of this famous Neo-Latin poem on agricultural pursuits, complete with an engraved frontispiece by the foremost French book artist of the 18th century: Henri Gravelot. Vanière's reflections on animal husbandry, bee-keeping, poultry, raising rabbits, arboriculture, and the cultivation of parkland are couched in Latin of such grace and style that he became known as the "Virgil of France." Vanière (1664-1739), a Jesuit, first published his poem in 1696; it became hugely successful and was many times reprinted. This edition has an 8-page prefatory elegy by another Jesuit, Isaac-Jean Badon (b. 1719) preceding the text. There are poems about horses and cattle (no. 3), trees (5 & 6), work according to seasons (7 & 8), gardening (9), wine (11), farms and farmyards (12), bees (14), fishing (15), and parks (16). It is a remarkable fact that the work has never been translated fully into English. That such a work was so superbly printed - and in this instance bound - reflects the rise of the cultural phenomenon we call the "gentleman farmer" in France and elsewhere during the 18th century.
Robert S. Pirie (his bookplate on verso of front free endpaper). TMV
Parisiis : ex typographiâ Jos Barbou, viâ Mathurinensium, MDCCLXXIV [1774]