Books

The 1786 "new" edition. 2 volumes in 1, to which is added "The Terra: A Philosophical Discourse on Earth". With an engraved frontispiece portrait of John Evelyn by Bartolozzi, 3 folding (or double-page) tables and 4 engraved plates, including 1 folding and 1 with brown aquatint. An attractive, contemporary-to-the period full calf, with a ribbed spine and black leather title label. A handsome copy of the Hunter edition, well-preserved, very presentable and VG+ to Near Fine. With the armorial bookplate of "Charles Bodenham Esq." at the front pastedown. From the collection of the London bookseller John Chancellor of Kew Books. John Evelyn's legendary 1664 plea for reforestation (when the country was being depleted by glass factories, iron furnaces and the Royal Navy) has been credited with inspiring the planting of more than a million new trees. In fact, poet Robert Southey said "Silva" was "one of the few books in the world which completely effected what it was designed to do". (Henrey 138).