Talpa: Or the Chronicles of a Clay Farm. by [HOSKYNS (Charles Wren)] - 1852

An Agricultural Fragment. By C.W.H. London: Reeve & Co., Hentietta St., Covent Garden, 1852. Half-title not called for; twenty-four tail-piece vignettes by George Cruikshank; integral advertisement leaf followed by two leaves inserted advertisements at end; early rebound in quarter black roan, green horizontally grained morocco cloth sides, omitting all the leaves of advertisements. Extreme head of spine frayed; some scattered foxing; otherwise a nice copy. A very readable and amusing book, long recognised as a classic of English agricultural literature, compiled as a selection from articles first printed in the ‘Gardener’s Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette’ in 1847, and so here described as a fragment, this being its first appearance in book form. The farm was subsequently identified as at Wraxall Abbey in Warwickshire. The fourth edition, of 1857, identified the author. The vignette on p.81, captioned ‘”Drop it!”’, was itself dropped from subsequent printings. Printed by John Edward Taylor. As originally issued, the volume was in fine horizontal red and black marbled wavy-grain cloth ruled blind on sides, blocked with a vignette of a mole (not a ‘badger’ as stated by Wolff) on front cover, ruled, lettered, and blocked gilt on spine, and with end-papers coated pale yellow. Wolff, 3296; Cohn, 413; COPAC records copies at the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Nottingham only. All books listed by Robert Temple are first editions unless otherwise stated.