1670 John Evelyn SYLVA TREES TIMBER CIDER GARDENING * C17 Illustrated Folio

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* * * Description S Y L V A , Or A DISCOURSE Of FOREST-TREES AND THE Propagation of Timber in His MAJESTIES Dominions. As it was Deliver'd in the ROYAL SOCIETY the xvth of October , MDCLXII. upon occafion of certain Qu�ries propounded to that Illuftri-ous Affembly , by the Honourable the Principal Officers , and Commiffioners of the Navy. To which is annexed POMONA ; Or, An Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to CIDER ;The Making , and feverall wayes of Ordering it. Published by expreffe Order of the ROYAL SOCIETY.ALSO KALENDARIUM HORTENSE ; Or, The Gard'ners Almanac; Directing what he is to do Monthly throughout the Year. All which feveral Treatifes are in this SECOND EDITION much Inlarged and Improved B Y JOHN EVELYN Efq ; Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY. LONDON ,Printed by Jo. Martyn , and Ja. Alleftry , Printers to the Royal Society. MDCLXX [1670]. ~ THE SECOND EDITION ~ Contemporary full calf, nicely rebacked, some marginal spotting and some marks to text. A folio volume, it measures approximately 31cm (12�") x 20.5cm (8") x 3cm (1�"). Pagination pp. [48], 44, 53-172, 171-247, [5], 67, [1], 33, [3], collated and complete. Engraved illustrations within text. John Evelyn (1620-1706), English writer, diarist and founder member of the Royal Society. Unlike some of the figures more readily associated with it, Evelyn envisaged it as a forum for broad humanistic enquiry and public service. He believed that the original intention of the Royal Society, which embraced the application of science to social and economic problems, should be realised. This was the mainspring of Sylva. He withdrew from the Society as its attention turned more towards �pure� science. Although his interest in silviculture stemmed from different sources than did Nehemiah Grew�s investigations concerning the structure of trees, in the third edition of Sylva in 1679 he acknowledged the microscopical researches of Grew and Hooke on the circulation of sap. Sylva was at the time of its first publication in 1664 the first treatise in English devoted entirely to silviculture, and was written at the request of several Commissioners of the Navy. It was the first book to be published under the auspices of the Royal Society, and was aimed exclusively at the educated gentry and aristocracy, as its style, replete with classical allusions, indicates. It found enduring popularity among them. Throughout the seventeenth century there were perennial and ungrounded fears regarding the shortage of timber and its consequences for economic and strategic power, particularly for the Navy. Evelyn's book built on previous works on husbandry which publicised scientific methods of forestry. (King's College London) Although the date on the title-page is 1670 this edition is noticed in Phil. Trans. 4, 1071-4915 Nov. 1669). "The first important book to be published in this country on forest trees... [the work has also] the distinction of being the first book ever written and published by the express order of the Royal Society." (Henrey.) Sylva also includes Pomono , Evelyn's book onfruit tress and produciton of cider, and the Kalendarium Hortense , in which Evelyn, the keen gardener, provides a month by month guide to the garden "directing what he is to do monethly throughout the year, and what fruits and flowers are in prime". As Robert Southey said of Evelyn's 'Sylva',"He who opens the volume is led insensibly from page to page, and catches something of the delight which made the author enter with his whole heart and all his faculties into the subject." read more

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