Husbandry Anatomized, or, an Enquiry into the present manner of teiling and manuring the ground in Scotland for most part ... [With:] Postscript to Husbandry Anatomiz'd or, An addition to the Enquiry into the present Manner of Ordering, Dressing and Mnauring the Ground in Scotland by Donaldson, James - 1698

Edinburgh: Printed by John Reid, 1698. [16], 136; 48pp. 2 vols. 12mo. Modern half mottled calf, gilt spine. Provenance: Patrick Hume, Earl of Marchmont (armorial bookplate to verso of title of first work); Dr. Karl Baumgarten (ink stamps, sold Parke Bernet 1963); King Larry Parker (bookplates & blindstamps). [16], 136; 48pp. 2 vols. 12mo. The Dedication Copy. "A rare little book... a high estimation has always been placed upon this work, as a valuable production of that early time, and it is considered equal to anything of that kind that has appeared to date. Copies are exceedingly scarce" (McDonald, Agricultural Writers, p. 142)

Donaldson (d. 1719), by his own account the son of a Scottish landowner and an officer in a regiment for William III in the revolution of 1688, wrote on various agricultural and economic issues and served as the publisher of the Edinburgh Gazette, the first newspaper in Scotland with long-term continuity. The present work, one of the first if not the first Scottish works on agriculture, "contained a programme for improved farming in advance of current thought, his most innovative proposal being for the use of potatoes as a field crop" (ODNB).

The present example is the dedication copy, from the library of the Earl of Machmont. ESTC records a 1696 edition with a single location at the Signet Library, though this would seem to be in error. Very scarce complete with the separately-issued Postscript. ESTC R10333 and R229803; Wing D1853 and D1855; Fussell p. 84; Perkins 497; Rothamsted p. 48; Goldsmiths' 3384.; Aldis 3662 and 3772