[AGRONOMY]. SERRES (Olivier de). *The Theater of Agriculture - Lot 2

[AGRONOMY]. SERRES (Olivier de). *The Theater of Agriculture and the Management of Fields*. First edition of this seminal work on French agronomy, by Olivier de Serres, a Protestant and close associate of Henry IV. Paris, Jamet Métayer, 1600. In folio, full havana calfskin, ribbed spine, paper labels with title inscribed in ink. 7 unnumbered folios – 1004 – 5 unnumbered folios (table of contents). Engraved headbands, footbands, and initials. 16 black woodcuts in the text. Significant leather loss on the spine and front cover; back cover missing; corners worn; front cover stained; small wormholes; scattered foxing and water stains; title page and last five leaves missing (table of contents). “A very rare first edition ” (Tchemerzine, V, 817) of the first modern treatise on agronomy. Olivier de Serres acquired the Pradel mills in Mirabel, Ardèche, to turn them into a model farm where he experimented with numerous botanical and agronomic practices. He shared his expertise with peasants and landowners, introduced madder, hops, and corn, and was the first to work on extracting sugar from sugar beets. His enterprise, initially isolated, became the symbol of the economic recovery hoped for by Henry IV. The success of this edition was so resounding that the text went through 19 reprints by 1675. The fame of this great treatise would not be eclipsed until the end of the 17th century, with the enthusiasm generated by Charles Estienne and Léibault’s *La Maison rustique*. Contemporary binding; interior in very good condition.