Tchemerzine, V, p. 817 ; Pritzel, 8630 ; Mortimer, French, 494 ; En Fran\u00e7ais dans le texte, 79 ; Simon, Bibl. Bacchica, II, 619 ; Vicaire, pp.788-789 ; Kress, 236 ; Baron de Gaujal, \u00c9tude historique sur le Rouergue, 1859, p.230-245 ; Vabre, Sylvie. \u201cLe roquefort : un fromage unique\u201d. Le sacre du roquefort, Presses universitaires Fran\u00e7ois-Rabelais, 2015, p.75-113.<\/i><\/p>\n
First edition of the first modern treaty on agriculture. “Cette premi\u00e8re \u00e9dition est la plus belle de toutes ” (Thi\u00e9baud). It is dedicated to French King Henry IV.<\/span><\/p>\n Jean Despradels d\u2019Allaret\u2019s (1728\u20131809) working copy, with his handwritten signature on the title page, manicules, and numerous notes in his own hand. Despradels put his theoretical knowledge into practice by introducing new crops to his lands and throughout the country, particularly clover (or esparcet), popularized by Olivier de Serres, and potatoes (or entrefegas).<\/i><\/p>\n Similarly, on his estate at La Rode\u2014located high in the mountains and completely lacking running water\u2014he established artificial pastures and introduced sainfoin, a forage crop that requires only shallow soil. On March 8, 1789, he was appointed deputy of the Third Estate for the town and community of Millau.<\/p>\n His manuscript reveals his deep attachment and knowledge of his land:\u00ab A Millau on peut commencer de semer le pr\u00e9 d\u2019octobre, on doit avoir fini le 15 de 9bre <\/sup>en le pratiquant ainsi et en labourant tout de suite et avec rapidit\u00e9, les jach\u00e8res, on peut les avoir travaill\u00e9es toutes avant les gel\u00e9es qui n\u2019arrivent ordinairement qu\u2019en Xbre <\/sup>par cette diligence les terres sont f\u00e9cond\u00e9es par toutes les influences de l\u2019hiver et le m\u00e9nage met \u00e0 profit les herbes de ces chaumes, d\u2019abord pour les b\u0153ufs et muleys et lorsque ceux-ci y ont pass\u00e9, pour les b\u00eates \u00e0 laine. \u00bb <\/i>p.92 ou encore \u00ab dans les pa\u00efs froids on doit semer plutot [sic] que dans les pa\u00efs chauds, dans le vallon de Millau le six semaine commencent le p\u00b0 8bre<\/sup> et finissement au 13 de 9bre<\/sup>. \u00bb<\/i> (p.112)<\/p>\n However, his erudition is not limited to his region; his notes offer us a deep dive into agricultural practices of the time in France and other parts of the world: \u00ab dans la partie du Dauphin\u00e9 qui est sur le bord du Rhone, on fume les terres avec du lupins qu\u2019on s\u00e8me \u00e0 la fin de juin ou au commencement de juillet [\u2026] Au lieu de Lupins on se sert en Bretagne et dans bien d\u2019autre endroit de bl\u00e9 sarrasin que nous appelons millet noir \u00bb<\/i> (p.100).<\/p>\n When Olivier de Serres mentions the Cros, Despradels adds : \u00ab cette m\u00e9thode est encore en usage dans le Royaume de Naples, en Sicile, dans le levant et en Barbarie \u00bb<\/i> p.136.<\/p>\n Olivier de Serres spent much of his life on his estate at Le Pradel, devoting himself to farming his land. Th\u00e9\u00e2tre d\u2019agriculture<\/i> is the first major French text on agronomy, in which Serres discusses the soil, land clearing and drainage, wheat, wine, livestock, poultry, the garden, water, wood, and even household recipes. <\/p>\n This book laid the foundation for the development of new crops such as hops, corn, beets, mulberry trees, and, above all, the potato.<\/p>\n “Ce trait\u00e9 d’agriculture est le fruit des recherches entreprises par l’agronome sur sa propre exploitation \u00e0 partir de 1559. L’aspect novateur du Th\u00e9\u00e2tre<\/i> tient au caract\u00e8re scientifique de la d\u00e9marche de son auteur qui, bien que connaissant l’apport des antiques et de ses contemporains, r\u00e9alisa ses propres exp\u00e9rimentations.” (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sichet, France Archives).<\/p>\n The illustration consists of a fine title-frontispiece engraved by Mallery. It shows an arch with the title in the middle with small views revealing a country landscape at both sides, surmounted by a garden view with parterres in the style of Le N\u00f4tre showing the king seated in the middle and surrounded by three personalities (Justice, Peace, and Labour). The title reads \u201cOlivier de Serres, Lord of Pradel\u201d; in our copy, this has been corrected to \u201cDespradel\u201d by Despradels, who thereby draws a connection to his own surname.<\/p>\n The illustrations are complemented by 16 woodcuts in the text and eight wood-engraved headpieces at the beginning of each chapter depicting scenes of country life. The woodcuts are part of the Sixth Section on gardens and depict square plots or sections of famous gardens such as the Tuileries, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Fontainebleau, as well as plans for laying out a medicinal garden.<\/p>\n Clear light waterstain throughout, paper default pp. 721\/722 without loss, last leaf doubled with Japanese paper.<\/p>\n A highly interesting example showing how an 18th<\/sup>-century agronomist acquired knowledge and put it into practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Folio (306 x 200 mm) 8 nn.ll. including engraved title-frontispiece by Malleri, 1004 pp., 10 nn.ll. 18th century marbled calf, spine gilt with raised bands, red edges (some expert restorations<\/i>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":85416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[532],"product_tag":[1239,1209,1450,584,3301],"class_list":{"0":"post-85425","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-botanical","7":"product_tag-17th-century-illustrations","8":"product_tag-economics","9":"product_tag-first-edition","10":"product_tag-gardens","11":"product_tag-natural-science","12":"pa_auteur-serres-olivier-de-2","13":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","15":"first","16":"instock","17":"shipping-taxable","18":"purchasable","19":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":"SERRES Olivier de","chapeau":"The copy of a pioneering agronomist","adresse_bibliographique":"Paris, Jamet Metayer, 1600","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":"oui"},"yoast_head":"\n
Despradels was born in Millau and was the owner of the Rode estate. He was an enlightened and well-read agronomist. He educated himself through books from which he derived a robust theory of agriculture. His copy of Olivier de Serres not only contains numerous underlined passages but also, through marginal notes, comparisons between major works on agriculture and botany. Thus, he refers to works by Duhamel du Monceau (pp. 47, 80), Mathieu Tillet (p. 47), and the Marquis de Turbilly (p. 75). He also takes care to provide further details:: \u00ab Olivier de Serres ne parle pas de la Niele ny du Charbon, voir les diverses exp\u00e9riences faites par Mr du Tillet et les pr\u00e9parations que conseillent Mr Duhamel, de Sutieves et luy pour pr\u00e9server les bl\u00e9s de ses funestes maladies \u00bb (p.105).<\/i><\/p>\n