Manuale del vignaiolo toscano. (Bound after) Manuale del cultore di piantonaie. (Bound first) Manuale del pecoraio

Three works in one volume. 8vo. 150 x 95 mm., 6 x 3 ¾ inches]. [2], 216 pp.; 220 pp., .[2], 228 pp. Bound in half green morocco, title and decorations gilt on the spine (minor defects to one hinge). A good copy.

Three works by Ignazio Malenotti bound together in an attractive half-morocco volume. Il Manuale del vignaiolo and the shepherd's manual are first editions; the manual for the cultivator of nurseries (piantonaie) had appeared in print one year earlier, in 1830. Malenotti's most famous work was an analysis of the conditions of the farmers and land owners and his call for reform.

Of particular interest is the work devoted to wine, intended to promote and revive Tuscan grape varieties. Especially noteworthy is, from page 205 to the end, a true "General catalogue of nearly all the vines or grapes known in Tuscany according to their vernacular names," describing no fewer than 87 different varieties. The manual on sheep-raising, meanwhile, provides remarkable information on the various qualities of local cheeses in the chapter "On Cheese" (p. 184), entirely devoted to dairy production. Finally, the text dedicated to piantonaie-that is, fruit trees, timber trees, and support trees-is a genuine practical manual for the farmer; Chapter V is entirely devoted to the olive tree and the vine.

OCLC cites only one copy of Manuale del vignaiolo toscano at the University of Vermont and no copies for the work on sheep raising and the cultivation of gardens and vines. NUC cites two works by Malenotti, but these three titles are not listed.

Vittorio Niccoli. Saggio Storico e Bibliografico dell'Agricultura Italiana, p.562. Maria Paleria Henssler. Bibliografia Latino-Italiana di Gastronomia, I, p.456. . Not in Lord Westbury. Handlist of Italian Cookery Books. (1450)