Still a Standard Authority on American Apples, Profusely Illustrated with 290 Engravings (1867)

Warder, John

[APPLES]. American Pomology: Apples. 290 Illustrations

New York: Orange Judge, 1867. First Edition. Thick 8vo. 744 pp. With 290 line drawings illustrating the text. Original publisher's brown cloth, front cover stamped in gilt with large apple, spine blocked and gilt (gathering 18 pulling away from textblock and slightly proud, cloth on spine lightly faded, front endpaper renewed with slightly darker brown paper, trifle wear to foot of spine). Ownership inscription of "N.G. Fenis" on title-page and first blank, dated in the year of publication. With stated faults, an attractive copy. NOT ex-library! Very good. Item #4426

FIRST EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH 290 ENGRAVINGS, STILL CONSIDERED A STANDARD AUTHORITY ON THE DESCRIPTION OF CULTIVARS OF APPLES AND CONTAINS A TABLE OF CULTIVARS AND SYNONYMS OF OVER 1500 NAMES. GOOD COPIES OF THIS MAJOR REFERENCE WORK ARE SCARCE IN PRIVATE OWNERSHIP.

Warder was possibly the most outstanding pomologist and horticulturist of the Central West. To contextualize the date of publication (1867), Warder wrote the book (in Ohio) before the first apple tree was planted in Colorado. Here he gives excellent descriptions of how orchards were managed during the Antebellum period, at which time there was a great deal of experimentation. Indeed, there is much information in "American Pomology" that is still pertinent.

John Aston Warder (1812-1883), a physician, was a very significant horticulturalist and forester (he founded the American Forestry Association). He was one of the first to suggest that the vast western plains should be covered with tree belts. Furthermore, he was one of the first to draw attention to improvement of public grounds, private parks and cemeteries.

COMMENT: The aftermath of the Civil War, and the subsequent triumph of the "Republic," is diplomatically address in the first paragraph of the Preface: "All patriots may realize a sense of pride, when they consider the capabilities of the glorious country in which we are favored to live; and while fostering no sectional feelings, nor pleading any local interests, yet, as Americans and as men, we may be allowed to love our own homes, our own neighborhoods, our States and regions; and we may be permitted to think them the brightest and best portions of the great Republic to which we all belong. Therefore the writer asks to be excused for expressing a preference for his own favored Northwest, and while claiming all praise for this noble expanse, he wishes still to be acknowledged as most devotedly an American Citizen, who feels the deepest interest in the prosperity of the whole country."

Of this first edition, no other copy seems to be on the market save for the garbage ex-library copy currently on eBay.

Price: $700.00