- Closed tear in the plan of the Versailles kitchen-garden; small portion cut from outer upper margin of first blank; part 2 partly stained in blank margin. Spine-ends sl. dam.; covers/ corners sl. worn. Good copy.

= Pritzel 5075; cf. Hunt I, 388 (Engl. transl. 1693); Kat. Orn. Berlin 3547 (ed. 1739). "La Quintinie was one of the great French agriculturists of the 17th century. He was also interested in horticulture and gardens, and Louis XIV felt his work was so important, that he created for him the post of Directeur Général des Portagers Royaux. Though La Quintinie held this post with distinction for forty years, his modesty was such that he published nothing of his own during his lifetime. This was rectified shortly after his death when the Instructions pour les Jardins Fruitiers et Potagers was brought out in 1690. It was so practical and filled such a need that it went into many editions" (Hunt). The 12 plates illustrate the planting and pruning of fruit-trees and of various pruning-knives.

BOUND WITH: Idem. L'art ou la maniere Particuliere & Seure de tailler les arbres fruitiers. Ibid., idem, 1699, (4),19p., 5 engr. ills.