ARATOR, BEING A SERIES OF AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS, PRACTICAL AND POLITICAL: IN SIXTY FOUR NUMBERS by Taylor, John - 1818

Petersburg, VA: Printed by Whitworth & Yancy for John M. Carter, 1818. Full Leather. near Good binding. 239pp. 12mo. 239, [1] pp. Fifth edition, revised and enlarged. Full bound in contemporary calf with red morocco title label on the spine. Front board is nearly detached; spine somewhat desiccated, otherwise light wear; contemporary owner name of one Samuel H. Whitman is penned repeatedly on both pastedowns; free endpapers are missing; moderate to heavy foxing throughout.

This series of essays began at pseudonymously published articles in 1810 in a Georgetown newspaper and culminated in sixty one essays (in the early editions) collected in this work, Arator, first published in 1813. In his biography of Taylor, Henry H. Simms writes of the praise for Taylor's work that came from the luminaries of the time: John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson who reportedly purchased a drilling machine sight unseen because Taylor recommended it (Simms 148-9). More than just practical agriculture, Taylor, as suggested in the title, had a series of political axes to grind including being long outspoken against Alexander Hamilton. Simms writes, "Hamilton's policy in every item bore hard upon the landed interests. Armies, navies, loaning, banking, and especially protecting duties were all hostile to the welfare of [agricultural] interests. Taken together they created a system which derived its sustenance and its special privileges from the government, and at the expense of seven-eighths of the people, the number engaged in agriculture." Some of the political views caught in Arator would shift or sharpen through the editions that were regularly issued throughout the decade (Simms 152). Also includes an essay in two parts on slavery and its adverse effects on agriculture. An important piece of American history from one of the leading agrarians and political thinkers of the time. ANB; Sabin 94484; Shaw & Shoemaker 45843; Simms, Henry H. "Life of John Taylor" (Richmond, 1932).