HILL, Thomas

4to, pp. [viii], 164, [viii], 92, two parts in one, separate t-p to each. Black letter, some Roman. Small woodcut to first t-p, larger circular to second, woodcut initials, floreated head- and tailpieces. 4 woodcuts illustrating text, the largest nearly full page and depicting ‘a proper knot for a Garden’ (X₄). Two of maze or hedge designs (C1₁, C4₄), one of an ideal garden layout (C₂) .   

Contemporary manuscript autograph of Gerard Talboth [?] on t-p in brown ink, another later to verso of last. Ms initials ‘T.L.’ to verso of t-p. Large C.17th autograph in upper margin B₁, of Margarett Bragrave (al. Blagrave) inked over in brown (slight bleeding across pages). Couple of little ms notes on H₂, possibly same hand. Minimal foxing to title page, tear from lower on outer blank of B ₄and U₄. and A₃ (repaired). Narrow tear from upper edge of Hh₄. Tiny hole to text on O₄ and affecting a few letters on Aa₃. Water stain at head of gathering G, affecting a couple of lines. The odd marginal oil spot.   

A very good clean well-margined copy in handsome straight grained green morocco, c. 1800, quadruple gilt ruled and vine leaf border, key pattern gilt on inside edge and rope on edge. Spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt. Crest of George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766 - 1840) on covers. Ms book-label of Edward Lockwood Percival on inside front cover. 

Thomas Hill (c. 1528-1574), of London, translator, author and astrologer. A biographer remarked that ‘Hill’s lucidity comes like a refreshing breeze after a sultry day’.  Hill composed manuals aimed at husbandmen, forming some of the first attempts to collate contemporary understanding of gardening in English, and went to great length to provide accurate information in a milieu of hastily fashioned 16th century scientific texts. These were massively successful, with the ‘Arte of Gardening’ meriting nine editions, though of many, few copies survived. The Bees were first added to the third edition.  

The Arte of Gardening is in two parts; the first on why and how one ought to tend and arrange a garden, including notes on water management, cleanliness [“take heed that the aire be not evil”], hot and cold climates, ground quality, mazes and hedges (with woodcuts), fertiliser, seeds, seasonal planting, pest control, amongst others. Hill was an avid astrologer as well as horticulturalist, and includes various events of astrological import in his seasonal timings. 

The second concerns how to grow and care for specific plants, listed in individual entries, and include their medicinal and nutritional uses: endive, swiss chard, spinach, violets, rose etc. We now know some of the vegetables listed are high in minerals and vitamins.  Entries include recommendations for various maladies and ailments, such as gout or indigestion, as well as recipes for savoury and sweet dishes. The knowledge of these medicinal uses is merged with contemporary understanding of the humours (spinach, for example, is said to increase melancholia). A previous owner has made note of treatments pertaining to gout on H₂.  

Hill’s oeuvre includes the very first English-language manual on beekeeping. Although interest in apiculture ballooned in the seventeenth century, in the sixteenth century it was still an obscure science. His guide set the groundwork for future interest. 

Book three (the mervailous government, propertie, and benefite of Bees) with separate title-page, preface and table of contents, concerns everything pertaining to bees, including their anatomy, habits, honey and wax, as well as uses. Hill describes how bee colonies operate, wage war on others, and the distinction between drones and the queen (here referred to as the ‘unperfecte bee’ and the ‘King’). There are excellent and detailed recipes, including for a sweet wine drink called ‘oenomel’, as well as extensive instructions on uses for beeswax, such as how to turn wax white, red, or green, for candle-making. 

Last are several chapters on healthy living during each month, with prognostications for the year based on which day of the week January 1st falls, various chapters on how to predict the weather and how to adjust seasonal crops accordingly. 

Edwarde Allde published a vast array of Jacobean and Elizabethan texts, including a couple of Shakespeare quartos. 

Margarett Bragrave almost certainly is Margaret Blagrave (d.1689), married to Thomas Blagrave (d.1688) in 1645, who was clerk of the cheque, musician to King Charles II, and grandson of the celebrated mathematician John Blagrave. His uncle (Margaret’s uncle-in-law) was the famous astrologer Joseph Blagrave, who also wrote on agriculture, including bees.