A Rare Early 19th Century Work on American Vegetables, Including "Forbidding" Tomatoes and Troublesome Eggplant

ECONOMY OF THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, THE ORCHARD, AND THE VINERY, WITH PLAIN PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS, FOR THEIR MANAGEMENT.

(GARDENING - 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN). WILSON, WILLIAM.

(New-York: Anderson, Davis and Co., 1828). 182 x 112 mm. (7 1/8 x 4 1/2"). xii, [13]-206 pp. FIRST EDITION.

Publisher's gray boards, backed with black roan, flat spine divided into panels by double gilt rules, gilt lettering. With an engraved plate depicting the recommended pruning and training of a grape vine. Front flyleaf with pencilled signature of Addie Gratacap and blue crayon signature of John Fields. Occasional neatly pencilled underlinings or marginalia in a 19th century hand. ◆Joints rubbed and cracked (rear board with the tiniest bit of give), spine with general wear (including small losses at top and bottom), boards somewhat soiled, text with persistent foxing (as usual in American imprints of this period); with obvious defects, but what one would expect for an American book on this subject at this date.

This practical guide to gardening in the United States was written in part as a rebuff to English agricultural writer William Cobbett, who had cast aspersions on the type and quality of vegetables that could be grown in American kitchen gardens. After defending the honor of such American crops as lima beans, Indian corn, and winter squash, Wilson offers advice, arranged by planting season, for growing asparagus, peas, root vegetables, tender and hardy greens, and varieties of squash. He doesn't quite see a central place for tomatoes in the vegetable garden, finding it "the most forbidding-looking plant," and does admit that eggplant cultivation is impossible without a hothouse. Vegetables are followed by herbs for culinary and medicinal use, and then by orchard fruits, with apples for eating and cider leading the way. Wilson finishes with detailed instructions for grape cultivation, illustrated by a plate depicting proper pruning and trellising practices. In addition to underlining key information on planting times and spacing distances in rows of vegetables, a previous owner (perhaps Addie Gratacap, judging by her use of pencil) found it amusing to count Wilson's digs at Cobbett, which total 32. This work is rare in institutions and in the marketplace (and is always found in unpleasant condition). RBH records just three copies at auction. (ST19567-013)

Price: $1,250.00