(Agriculture & Cookery, Precious stones and minerals, Indust...

Hammer

£600

(Agriculture & Cookery, Precious stones and minerals, Industrial Arts, Alchemy), Sir Hugh Plat: 'The Jewel House of Art and Nature: containing Divers Rare and Profitable Inventions, together with sundry new experiments in the Art of Husbandry. With divers Chymical Conclusions concerning the Art of Distillation, and the Rare Practices and Uses Thereof...Whereunto is added, a rare and excellent Discourse of minerals, stones, gums, and rosins : with the vertues and use thereof', London, printed by Elizabeth Alsop, and are to be sold at her house in Grubstreet, near the Upper Pump, 1653, title in woodcut typographic border and with woodcut of an ear of summer barley to verso, woodcut illustrations, head-pieces and decorative initials, [8],232pp, title page and first couple of leaves toned/browned and with some small marginal part loss (not affecting text/printed area), title page with neat reinforcement to inner margin, final two or three leaves with small marginal part loss, final leaf pp231/232 with marginal part losses professionally repaired/laid down on tissue paper, couple of small old inkstains to pp.24, toning towards outer edge of margins of leaves throughout, mispagination pp.155-162 as usual (all printed contents present), small 4to, rebound quarter blue morocco gilt over marbled paper covered boards. Scarce compendium of useful household information, formulas and recipes, including instructions on storing fruit and flowers, 'how to carry gold in a most secret manner', brewing, 'how to speak by signs onely', stealing bees, preventing drunkenness, 'keeping oysters good ten or twelve days', distilling, alchemy, a portable pump, oilskin clothing, sign language, bridge building, fishing, reviving colours of old pictures and much more.