Essays on Husbandry. Essay I. A General Introduction; Shewing That Agriculture is the Basis and Support of all flourishing Communities; --The antient and present State of that useful Art; --Agriculture, Manufactures, Trade, and Commerce justly harmonized; --of the right Cultivation of our Colonies; --Together with the Defects, Omissions, and possible Improvements in English Husbandry. Essay II. An account of some Experiments tending to improve the Culture of Lucerne by Transplantation: Being the first Experiments of the Kind hitherto made and published in England: From whence it appears, that Lucerne is an Article of great Importance in English Husbandry

Five engraved plates & numerous attractive woodcuts in the text. xviii, [4], 213, 232 pp. 8vo, cont. calf (lower joint with an unimportant crack, one corner a trifle worn), spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: J. Hinton et al., 1764.

First edition. “A far more outstanding piece of work was written by the Rev. Walter Harte but issued without a signature…Lord Chesterfield wrote of him in the highest terms and Johnson admired his companionable talents…Much of the Essays in Husbandry is general discussion, and Harte displays a wide acquaintance with the extensive literature of his subject, both English and Foreign, contemporary (truncated) and classical…Interest in lucerne had been of long standing even in Harte’s day, but it has still to become a plant that is generally grown in this country.”–Fussell, More Old English Farming Books, pp. 45-46.

Harte (1709-74), published his first book of poetry in 1727, at the age of 18; his verses attracted the attention of Pope, and the two subsequently became great friends.

Fine copy. Contemporary armorial bookplate of “W.M. Owen Esqr., Woodhouse.”. (Inventory #: 2767)