Treatise on the Culture of the Vine

Speechly, William. A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine. G Peacock for the author: York, 1790. 4to half bnd red morocco, marbled bds, xvi,[4],224pp.

SPEECHLY, William (1735-1819)

A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine: exhibiting new and advantageous methods of propagating, cultivating, and training that plant, so as to render it abundantly fruitful. Together with new hints on the formation of vineyards in England.

York: printed for the author by G Peacock; and sold by G Nicol, bookseller to his Majesty, Pall-Mall; J Debrett and J Stockdale, Piccadilly; and E Jeffery, near Carleton-Place, London, 1790. First edition.

Quarto (275x220mm) half bound, red straight grained morocco, marbled boards and end-papers, label to front board, spine and label lettered, ruled & decorated in gilt, xvi, [4 subscribers list],224pp; five steel engraved plates, three folding; four of the plates are signed by James Basire, engraver. Three plates are after originals by Speechly, plate 4, of the great vine at Northallerton is by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, and plate 5 of a terrace for vines by Hayman Rooke.

Engraved armorial bookplate of 'Vane Londonderry' (Charles William Vane, 3rd marquess of Londonderry)  to front pastedown; closed tear to p.149, small chip to bottom edge p.151; small pinhole to p.223;  faint edgewear; several faint spots, light offset-toning to several pps.

William Speechly (1723-1819) worked at Milton Abbey and Castle Howard before becoming gardener to the third Duke of Portland, at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. With the Duke's encouragment he began writing, contributing a description of tree-planting to Hunter's edition of Evelyn's Silva, then the much admired  A Treatise on the Culture of the Pineapple (1779).     


With A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, Speechly made a significant contribution to  English viticulture both in hothouses and in vineyards.  Fifty species of grapes, a number for wine production, are discussed noting some of the vineyards planted and the wines produced; together with extensive details of hothouse design and cultivation, the construction and management of vineyards in the open air, pruning, irrigation, grafting, and insect and blight control.  A second edition was published in 1805 and a third posthumously in 1821.

Vane (1778-1854) was a decorated Anglo-Irish cavalry officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars under Wellington, a diplomat of somewhat mixed reputation, later a politician, an industrialist and one of the wealthiest men in England in the early 19th century.

A very good copy of what Henrey described as "the most important work on the culture of the vine in the Eighteenth century" in an elegant nineteenth century binding.


§ ESTC T147497; Gabler G39990; Bibliotheca Vinaria, p.50; Henrey III, 1376; Pritzel 2985; Bibliotheca Gastronomica, p.132; Bitting, p445 & Noling, p.387 (later edition).
§ OCLC records only 5 physical holdings of this edition.