Opus ruralium commodorum
The first printed book on agriculture.
A wide-margined copy preserved in its armorial binding.
Folio, 147 leaves, 2 columns, with printed headlines, blank upper corner restored.
Full ivory vellum, smooth spine, coats of arms at the foot of the spine, red edges. 18th-century binding.
294 x 212 mm.
Crescentiis, Petrus de. Opus ruralium commodorum.
(Strasbourg) 9 March, 1486.
"Fifth edition of the first printed book on agriculture". HC *5831; BMC 1, 134; BSB C-697- GW 7824; Klebs 310.5; Goff C-968.
Complete copy, with very large margins. The B.M.C. copy measures 277 mm in height and lacks the title leaf.
Born in Bologna in 1233, died in the same city around 1320, Pietro de' Crescenzi is the author of the Ruralium commodorum libri XII composed between 1304 and 1309. This "pre-Renaissance" text is considered the most important medieval treatise on agronomy, though its innovative character is not unanimously accepted. Written by a contemporary of Dante, who displayed undeniable "skills of observation, organization and abstraction", it also bears witness to the fascination of people of the era with wondrous phenomena and architectures. In Bologna, Crescenzi worked as a jurist. His allegiance to the Ghibelline party apparently forced him into exile between 1268 and 1298. The comments in his treatise, comparing different regions of northern Italy, are believed to be a consequence of this exile. In 1298, after retiring permanently from public life, he divided his time between Bologna and his rural estate in Olmo. By managing this agricultural estate, he is said to have developed most of the agronomic knowledge recorded in his work.
As early as 1350, the Opus ruralium commodorum was translated into Italian, then into French in 1373 by order of Charles V. About 130 manuscripts are known. The French manuscript is titled Le livre des prouffitz champestres… Rustican du labour (Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, ms. 5064). It is part of a coherent corpus of works translated by order of the king with the aim of disseminating knowledge in the vernacular. Printed editions appeared early, with the Latin editio princeps published in Augsburg in 1471. Fifteen incunable editions are recorded in Latin, Italian, French, and German. The first French edition dates from 1486.
Book I presents, on the one hand, a long commentary on "the goodness of the habitable place in general," that is, the situation and arrangement of the dwelling according to climate, geomorphology, and water resources, and on the other hand, a chapter on the roles of the "father and lord of the family." Book II deals with "the virtue of the quality contained in each plant." This is a physiological model derived from Aristotelian physics, for the generation, growth, or even "transmutation" of plants. This exposition is a prelude to the presentation of fundamental agronomic knowledge: soil science and crop techniques (fertilization, irrigation, plowing, sowing, grafting, etc.). Book III describes cereal crops. Vine growing and grape processing (book IV) make up an important part of the work. Book V on arboriculture covers fruits useful for food and medicine. Book VI presents the cultivation of garden "herbs," with the description of more than 130 plants useful for medicine and nutrition. Book VII deals with meadows and woods. In Book VIII, the pleasure garden is one of the most original topics of the treatise. The longest section concerns animal husbandry (IX), followed by a section on hunting and fishing (book X). A summary articulated in various indexes (book XI) and a recapitulation of daily tasks (book XII) sum up and conclude the treatise.
As the social status of landowners improved, "orchards" were enlarged to reach between one and three hectares. The space grew larger and the number of features increased, but the recommendations for their arrangement remained almost the same as in the previous chapter. The Italian agronomist then gives extensive, often highly imaginative descriptions of the royal gardens of his time. The kings’ "garden," encircled by a high wall, is a priori more a wood where wild animals destined for hunting live than a horticultural plot. There is also mention of a vast utopian architecture: a house or palace built with living, espaliered plants.
Rare copy, complete (unlike the B.M.C. copy), with large margins, preserved in its original ivory vellum armorial binding.
