Silva: or a Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty s Dominions: As it was delivered in the Royal Society on the 15th Day of October, 1662, Upon Occasion of certain Quaeries propounded to that illustrious Assembly, by the Honourable the Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy. Together with An Historical Account of the Sacredness and Use of Standing Groves.

York: J. Dodsley, T. Cadell, et al., c. 1776.. A desirable and handsome copy bound in decorative full calf, plates are clean and crisp.. Edition: First Hunter edition., Binding: Contemporary full gilt-lined calf, tastefully rebacked spine in 6 compartments of raised gilt-tooled bands and gilt floral motifs, gilt green morocco label on two, gilt text on six, board edges and inner dentelles gilt-tooled, endpapers marbled. , Notes: Alexander Hunter (1729-1809) revised the book in 1776, indicating that "since the first edition of the Silva, in 1664, many improvements have been made in planting, and in every branch of natural knowledge. It, therefore, became my indispensable duty to bring down the improvements to the present time. These make the subject of the Notes, which are drawn from the most respectable authorities" (Hunter, preface, [1]).
A very important book on the growth and management of trees in England. Hunter indicates that, "soon after the publication of the Silva, which made its appearance in 1664, under the Auspices of the Royal Society, the Spirit for Planting increased to a high degree; and there is reason to believe that many of our ships which, in the last war, gave laws to the whole world, were constructed from Oaks planted at that time" (Ibid., [3]).
John Evelyn was born into a substantial Surrey landowning family. He embarked on a prolonged and formative period of travel in Italy and France, finally coming to rest in Paris in 1647. He soon established himself as one of the foremost virtuosi of his day. Evelyn’s Silva was "the first important book to be published in [Britain] on forest trees. No other work on the arboriculture exerted a greater influence on forestry in this country… and certainly no other book on the subject was so often quoted" (Henrey 101).
, Size: Large 4to., Illustration: Complete with 40 copper-engraved plates, including the frontispiece portrait of the author by Bartolozzi, as well as a folding plate of the Cawthorpe Oak. There is also a large folding data table., Provenance: Book plate of Charles A.W. Finch., References: Henrey 101, 108; Keynes 47; Pritzel 2766., Pages: P. (6), blank, frontis, title, blank, dedication, blank, preface (3), blank, list of subscribers (8), biography (13), blank, to the king (3), blank, to the reader (17), glossary (2), epigraph, 1-649, blank, index (9), blank, (6)., Category: Book Natural History; Book Farming & Agriculture;