A Guide for Young Shepherds; or Facts and Observations on the Character and Value of Merino Sheep: with Rules and Precepts for their Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases, As well as of Sheep in General by Bard, Samuel

New York: Collins, 1811. First edition (vi, 112 pp.), illustrated. 12mo., half leather and marbled paper over boards; covers worn, ffep missing, handwriting practice and promisory note on front and rear blanks, top corners clipped with no loss of text; text generally clean and binding tight. Samuel Bard (1742- 1821), perhaps best known for his work on midwifery, was assistant surgeon to George Washington and later helped found the faculty of medicine at Columbia University (where a chair of medicine is named in his honour). This little book, intended to improve livestock farming in the northeast by the introduction of merino sheep, gives details of British and Scandinavian practises as well as suggestions arising from Bard’s own experience at his Hyde Park farm. Bard was far from alone in championing the merino sheep-- see, for example, Robert L. Livingston’s Essay on Sheep (New-York, 1809). Indeed it would appear there was something of a ‘merino sheep craze’ which, although much tamer than tulip madness, attracted many agriculture improvers. A sound copy of this scarce book.