Lot 04

Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinye (1626 - 1688) GARDENER'S HANDBOOK

Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinye (1626-1688), was originally a lawyer, but excelled as a gardener and agronomist, a top expert and innovator in these fields in the 17th century. He founded and built the famous royal horticulture crop garden in Versailles in the years 1678 - 1683, from 1687 he became its director and castle architect of Louis XIV. The garden supplied domestic and exotic vegetables and fruits for the royal family. Quintinye came up with many new technologies, proposed the use of cow and horse manure, introduced a system of retaining walls and greenhouses that better exploited the effects of sunlight and allowed more harvests during the year, improved tree grafting and improved productivity. This main work of the famous researcher and practitioner was first published after his death in 1690. The presented new revised and expanded edition became the most popular horticultural book of its time and probably the most influential manual in the history of pomology in general. The two six-hundred-volume volumes are decorated with an engraved folded plan of the Versailles Garden, 12 copperplate plates with the theme of tree grafting and depictions of the tools used. Furthermore, 8 engraved vignettes with general views of the gardens in the chapter headings and text woodcuts. Title page with royal privilege below. Period decorative ornamentally gilded binding with 2 purple labels with the title.