A Treatise on the Culture of the Pineapple and the Management of the Hot - House ....

York: Prtd. by A Ward, for, and sold by the Author ...., 1779. First Edition.. Original paste paper boards.. Good; some overall toning; binding broken; repaired tear in the folding plate with no loss; minor separations along folds.. 8vo, v, [1 - blank], [5 - list of subscribers], [1 - blank], [vii] - xvii, [1 - blank], [1] - 186, [2 - explanation of folding plate] pp. + 2 plates; one a large folding plan of a hot-house. The signature of Thomas Melholde on page 1. There is a contemporary inserted 12 line autograph note (Melholde?) on aphids.

Speechly was considered to be the best kitchen, fruit and forcing gardener of his time (Henrey p. 479). The book offered here is considered to be the most important book on the culture of the pineapple to appear in the 18th century (Henrey p. 481). Speechly benefited from an education and the fact that his employer sent him on a tour of the gardens of Holland in 1771 in order to compare Dutch forcing methods with the English. Henrey #1373.