«Merge Record #»«Title» - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

ookplate removed from front paste-down; repair to to compartment of
spine, else a fine copy.
First edition, rare, of this attractively illustrated reform proposal for Roman
agriculture in a fine binding. Doria begins with advice on the assessment of different
types and qualities of soil and prospective harvests, which need to be taken into
account when assessing the viability of estates and their leases. This is followed by
detailed advice on the whole process of practical agriculture, such as how to organise
and arrange the fields for maximum efficiency, how the fields are prepared, manure
applied and ploughed under, then ploughing, sowing, hoeing, etc. up to the
harvesting. He makes some useful suggestions for the more efficient use of existing
fields and the incorporation of fallow ground.
Doria also supplies a detailed calendar of projects by month, and an interesting
glossary of agricultural terms and procedures, with labour prices where appropriate.
A final section gives an account of salaries paid in farming, and the average
maintenance cost for various farm workers. Particularly attractive are the emblematic
plates, showing scenes of farming and agriculture, common wind directions, field
divisions, and planting instructions.
'These were the years which saw a stepping up of specifically agronomic
propaganda, in the manner of Giovanni Salvini's Instructions to his land agent
(1775). Here too we can detect a Tuscan and also a Venetian influence and it is
apparent that the proposed agrarian changes (introduction of Tarelli's method, etc.)
would necessitate modifications in economic relationships and mentality ...... Above
all, one great hope: 'We are ever on the point of achieving the impossible .... so that
the structure of property will be transformed and the workers will no longer be
poor.' In 1777 Luigi Doria's Principles of Cereal Growing for the use of the Agro
Romano was published (the present work). 'A time of enlightenment like the
eighteenth century', said the preface, 'and a most cultured capital city like my own
would take it amiss if I thought it necessary to convince them of the importance of
that art which is the subject of the present instructions' (Venturi, Italy and the
Enlightenment, Studies in a Cosmopolitan Century, pp. 245-246).
Doria's work was reprinted in 1798, and this first edition appears to be very rare.
The arms of the binding are those of the Roman noble family Altieri. The Altieri
family produced over the centuries a pope, Clemens X, cardinals, and other
important personages in Rome. The artist who made the binding was almost surely a
Roman binder.
Not in Kress, Goldsmiths' or Einaudi, not found in NUC, OCLC lists just one copy at
UC Davis; see Re, Dizionario ragionato di libri d'agricoltura, p. 207, for 1798 edition
only, commenting that he never saw the first edition; for Altieri family see
Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana: famiglie nobili e titolate viventi riconosciute
dal R. governo d'Italia compresi: citta, comunita, mense vescovili, abazie, parrocchie
ed enti nobili e titolati riconosciuti / promossa e diretta da Vittorio Spreti .
Pubblicazione Milano : Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana, 1928-1935.
Falling out of Love
21.