FIVE HUNDRED POINTS OF GOOD HUSBANDRY - 1672 EDITION

A very early edition of this classic work, reportedly the second book on farming ever published. It was first published by Richard Tottel in 1557 as "A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie", a long poem in rhyming couplets recording the country year and has been frequently reprinted right up until the present day.

Tottel published an enlarged edition of Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie in 1573. Tusser includes a homely mix of instructions and observations about farming and country customs which offer insight into life in Tudor England, and his work records many terms and proverbs in print for the first time. In this work, he also famously presents ten characteristics the perfect cheese must have: Not like Gehazi, i.e., dead white, like a leper - Not like Lot's wife, all salt - Not like Argus, full of eyes - Not like Tom Piper, "hoven and puffed" - Not like Crispin, leathery - Not like Lazarus, poor - Not like Esau, hairy - Not like Mary Magdalene, full of whey or maudlin - Not like the Gentiles, full of maggots - Not like a Bishop, made of burnt milk.

In the original contemporary full calf binding. There is a contemporary ink name on the front pastedown as well as several contemporary ink words on the last blank page. There are small stains, possibly burns, on several pages. The binding is a little worn with some cracks but remarkably good for a book about 350 years old! The inner hinges are split but holding. The edges are stained but there is no internal foxing.

Thomas Tusser (1524 - 3 May 1580) was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, an expanded version of his original title, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, first published in 1557.

The copy on offer is by far the earliest edition that I can find on offer online.