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SIR JOHN HILL (1716?-1775)
Eden: or, a compleat body of gardening... compiled and digested from papers of the late celebrated Mr.Hale, by the authors of the compleat body of husbandry. And comprehending the art of constructing a garden for use and pleasure; the best method of keeping it in order: and the most perfect accounts of its several products. London: printed for T.Osborne, S.Crowder & Co. and H.Woodgate, [1756]-1757. Demy 2 (414 x 250mm). 2pp. letterpress dedication to the Earl of Bute. Engraved title by Charles Grignon after Samuel Wale and 60 plates printed in dark green, ALL FINELY HAND-COLOURED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND by Hill, Boyce, Cole, Alton, Edwards and Darly after van Huysum, Edwards and others. (Five plates appreciably browned, plate 25 shaved at outer margin just affecting the image, 180mm. tear from lower margin of 7X2 repaired with adhesive tape, two repaired tears to blank margins of Xx1.) 19th-century black morocco gilt, spine in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in two, g.e., by Lloyd. Provenance: Arthur Frederick Hill (d.1939, bookplate, presentation inscription to:); "Phyllis on her Birthday. Augt. 10th. 1918"; A.W.Bahr (ink stamp).
A VERY FINE COPY OF THE RARE COLOURED ISSUE OF ONE OF THE FIRST 'MODERN' GARDENING BOOKS. The work was issued in 60 weekly parts between August 1756 and October 1757, and appears to have been available with plates uncoloured or coloured. A contemporary advertisment, in the Public Advertiser for 16 November 1757, states that "there are some sets curiously coloured from nature, to be had of the proprietors" and that "The drawings have all been made from nature by Dr.Hill, and the greatest part of the plates engraved by his own hand". The work was intended as a companion to the Compleat Body of Husbandry (London, 1756). Both works give Thomas Hale as their author, probably a pseudonym.
The work was designed along very unusual lines, for the period: each weekly part includes information on what should be done in the garden during the following week together with descriptions of the plants that should be at their peak at that time. This format is now familiar from numerous printed works and is of course a formula followed by most gardening programmes on television and radio. In the introduction the author's intentions are made plain: "We shall treat of Gardens from their Origin, Design, and first Construction, to the raising them to Perfection, and keeping them in that condition; and we shall consider, in our Course, their Products, whether of Use, Curiosity, or Beauty. These we shall describe in their several Seasons, suiting our Publications to the Time of their Appearance."
Henrey writes of Sir John Hill that "Not only was.. [he] industrious and energetic, but his writings show him to have been a man of real ability and genius" (vol.II, p.91). Unfortunately, he was also conceited, eccentric and fond of self-advertisement: traits not condusive to winning friends, and various false starts in his search for wealth and recognition led him to persue a number of careers: apothecary, practical botanist, actor, gardener (he apparently assisted in the laying out of a botanic garden in Kew, and was gardener at Kensington Palace) and, most productively of all, miscellaneous writer (the list of his works in the D.N.B. runs to five and a half columns). Henrey III, 776; Hunt 559; Nissen BBI 880; cf. Tongiorgi Tomasi An Oak Spring Flora 53 (second edition).
Eden: or, a compleat body of gardening... compiled and digested from papers of the late celebrated Mr.Hale, by the authors of the compleat body of husbandry. And comprehending the art of constructing a garden for use and pleasure; the best method of keeping it in order: and the most perfect accounts of its several products. London: printed for T.Osborne, S.Crowder & Co. and H.Woodgate, [1756]-1757. Demy 2 (414 x 250mm). 2pp. letterpress dedication to the Earl of Bute. Engraved title by Charles Grignon after Samuel Wale and 60 plates printed in dark green, ALL FINELY HAND-COLOURED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND by Hill, Boyce, Cole, Alton, Edwards and Darly after van Huysum, Edwards and others. (Five plates appreciably browned, plate 25 shaved at outer margin just affecting the image, 180mm. tear from lower margin of 7X2 repaired with adhesive tape, two repaired tears to blank margins of Xx1.) 19th-century black morocco gilt, spine in seven compartments with raised bands, lettered in two, g.e., by Lloyd. Provenance: Arthur Frederick Hill (d.1939, bookplate, presentation inscription to:); "Phyllis on her Birthday. Augt. 10th. 1918"; A.W.Bahr (ink stamp).
A VERY FINE COPY OF THE RARE COLOURED ISSUE OF ONE OF THE FIRST 'MODERN' GARDENING BOOKS. The work was issued in 60 weekly parts between August 1756 and October 1757, and appears to have been available with plates uncoloured or coloured. A contemporary advertisment, in the Public Advertiser for 16 November 1757, states that "there are some sets curiously coloured from nature, to be had of the proprietors" and that "The drawings have all been made from nature by Dr.Hill, and the greatest part of the plates engraved by his own hand". The work was intended as a companion to the Compleat Body of Husbandry (London, 1756). Both works give Thomas Hale as their author, probably a pseudonym.
The work was designed along very unusual lines, for the period: each weekly part includes information on what should be done in the garden during the following week together with descriptions of the plants that should be at their peak at that time. This format is now familiar from numerous printed works and is of course a formula followed by most gardening programmes on television and radio. In the introduction the author's intentions are made plain: "We shall treat of Gardens from their Origin, Design, and first Construction, to the raising them to Perfection, and keeping them in that condition; and we shall consider, in our Course, their Products, whether of Use, Curiosity, or Beauty. These we shall describe in their several Seasons, suiting our Publications to the Time of their Appearance."
Henrey writes of Sir John Hill that "Not only was.. [he] industrious and energetic, but his writings show him to have been a man of real ability and genius" (vol.II, p.91). Unfortunately, he was also conceited, eccentric and fond of self-advertisement: traits not condusive to winning friends, and various false starts in his search for wealth and recognition led him to persue a number of careers: apothecary, practical botanist, actor, gardener (he apparently assisted in the laying out of a botanic garden in Kew, and was gardener at Kensington Palace) and, most productively of all, miscellaneous writer (the list of his works in the D.N.B. runs to five and a half columns). Henrey III, 776; Hunt 559; Nissen BBI 880; cf. Tongiorgi Tomasi An Oak Spring Flora 53 (second edition).