Serres, Olivier de (Seigneur du Pradel) | First edition of the first great French treatise on agronomy

Serres, Olivier de [Seigneur du Pradel]

Theatre d'Agriculture et Mesnage des Champs. Paris: Jamet Metayer, 1600

4to (343 x 197 mm). Engraved title by Karel van Mallery, dedication, preface, colophon page, 8 woodcut vignettes as headings to each book, 16 woodcut illustrations of parterres, woodcut decorations and initials; contemporary manuscript annotations on pp. 104-105, 130, and the last page of the index, marginal restoration to the colophon and final blank leaves. Eighteenth-century calf, spine with raised bands, red morocco lettering piece.

Rare. First edition of the first great French treatise on agronomy, one of the major treatises of the Renaissance.

Olivier de SerresS' Theatre d'Agriculture, provides a comprehensive exploration of various facets of the rural economy. Encompassing ploughing, vine growing, wine making, animal husbandry, food preparation, gardening, and even dedicating a chapter to hunting and "other honest exercises of the gentleman"; the work emerges as a rich compendium of agricultural knowledge.

A Protestant gentleman born in 1539 in Ardèche, de Serres would go on to be hailed as the father of French agronomy. With unwavering dedication, he transformed his Pradel estate into a model farm through years of research and experimentation. Theatre d'Agriculture serves as a culmination of his efforts, overflowing with innovative ideas infused with a political determination to revitalize the Kingdom's economy, which had suffered greatly during the French Wars of Religion. Never losing sight of the national interest, de Serres hoped to convince fellow gentlemen and landowners to take care of their land themselves. Thus, over a period of thirty years, he dedicated his spare time to penning the present work, meticulously covering all aspects of agriculture: from land management, clearing, and drainage, to the cultivation of wheat, wine, cattle, barnyard animals, gardens, water, wood, and domestic recipes. Significantly, this magnum opus, played a pivotal role in introducing and promoting new crops such as hops, corn, beets, mulberries, and potatoes to the region.

De Serres dedicated the present work to Henri IV, a monarch who swiftly grasped the potential of this book as a tool for pacifying minds and reviving the Kingdom's economy. It is said that the King would have a few pages read to him every day after his dinner. The work's usefulness, coupled with royal patronage and its innovative character, contributed to its immense and lasting success, evident from the numerous editions published in the first half of the seventeenth century.

REFERENCE:

Brun, p. 292; Pritzel, 8630; Thiébaud, 840; Kress, 236; Mortimer French, 494; Simon, Bibliotheca Bacchica, II, 619; Vicaire, pp. 788-89; Wheaton p.227; Bitting p. 428