Rural Recreations; or, the Gardener's Instructor, Exhibiting, all the Operations Necessary in the Kitchen, Flower & Fruit Garden, &c, for every month of the year, with a treatise on management of bees, &c.

8vo [22 x 14 cm]; 4 in 2 volumes, [i], ii, 163, 427; vii, 64, 128, 219, [i, corrections], engraved frontis of garden, 21 engraved plates, many folding, indexes. contemporary full tree calf, gilt borders, gilt spine decorations and lettering, engraved tail-pieces, joints cracked but holding, edge wear, endpaper bookplate removed, endpaper inscription, interior is clean and near fine, in good covers. A picture of t The title of volume I continues: 'to which is subjoined, a Complete Catalogue of Useful and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Plants with their Varieties and parts used, for Medicinal and Culinary Purposes'. Volume II consists of two parts, 'Rural Recreations or the Modern Farmer's Calendar, . . . all the Operations Necessary on a Farm for every month of the year, as well as all the Recent Improvements in Agriculture and Rural Economy', and 'The Elements of Botany or an Introduction to the Sexual System of Linnaeus with which is annexed an English Botanical Dictionary', the second part by R. Hall, M. D. and published 1802 by same publisher. The second volume is sometimes found separately but is clearly part of the set. The plates including equipment, machinery, garden plans, layouts of greenhouses, hothouses, ice-house, buildings, plants, etc. A thorough reference work for the gardener and farmer of the time.