Item #252507 Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. As it was Deliver’d in the Royal Society the XVth of October, MDCLXLI. Upon the Occasion of Certain Quaries propounded to the Illustrious assembly, by the Honourable the Principal officers, and Commissioners of the Navy. Terra, a Philosophical Essay of Earth…Pomona: or, an appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to Cider;…also Kaldendarium Hortense; or the Gard’ners Almanac…. John Evelyn.

Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. As it was Deliver’d in the Royal Society the XVth of October, MDCLXLI. Upon the Occasion of Certain Quaries propounded to the Illustrious assembly, by the Honourable the Principal officers, and Commissioners of the Navy. Terra, a Philosophical Essay of Earth…Pomona: or, an appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to Cider;…also Kaldendarium Hortense; or the Gard’ners Almanac….

London: Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, 1679.

Price: $1,750.00


About the item

Third edition, “much inlarged, and improved,” etc. Illustrated with 5 copper-engravings in the text, including one full-page. 1 vols. Folio. Contemporary speckled calf, neatly rebacked. Black morocco spine label. Very good, with generous margins. Wing E 3518; Keynes 42; Blanche Henrey 134JC-NY/FL/1.

Item #252507

Evelyn’s Sylva , first published in 1664, is a treatise on forestry, written to promote the cultivation of timber for building the Royal Navy. As Disraeli wrote: “It was an author in his studious retreat, who, casting a prophetic eye on the age we live in, secured the late victories of our national sovereignty. Inquire at the Admiralty how the fleets of Nelson have been constructed and they can tell you that it was with the oaks that the genius of Evelyn planted.”

This is the first edition to include Abraham Cowley’s poem, “The Garden” and Evelyn’s “Philosophical Discourse of the Earth”, in second edition (published separately in 1676); “Pomona” is of the third edition; and “Kalendarium Hortense” is of the fifth edition; the errata leaf is present.