{"product_id":"crescenzi-pietro-de-1","title":"CRESCENZI, Pietro de","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fine, handsomely illustrated, copy of the Italian translation of Pietro de  Crescenzi s famous writings on agriculture, printed in over 50 editions in several languages between 1471 and 1600. Crescenzi (c.1230\/30-1320) studied law, medicine and natural science at Bologna. After retiring from a long legal career, he spent much time at his estate in the Bolognese countryside. There he was inspired to write  De agricultura vulgare  (c.1304)  first printed as  Ruralia commoda  in Nuremberg in 1471 a treatise on agriculture based on classical and medieval sources and his direct experience. Like its most important models Columella s  De re rustica  and Palladius s  Opus agriculturae   De agricultura  was fundamental for the humanist re-elaboration of the rustic values of landownership so dear to the ancient Roman elites. The work presents an ideal  holistic  landowner who is knowledgeable about all aspects of estate management, from the architecture of buildings to the caretaking of gardens and meadows, wine-making, bee-keeping, hunting, farming, and the use of trees and plants for medicinal and nutritional purposes. The physical and spiritual well-being of Crescenzi s country life is identified with the harmony of the human and the natural following Avicenna s theories of the bodily humours. The superb woodcuts, many of which were drawn from the Venetian edition of 1495, depict a variety of subjects, from techniques for distilling river water and planning gardens to ways of ensuring that oxen  cooperate  whilst pulling the plough a tongue-in-cheek vignette, this, in which the artist inserted, behind the customary peasant figure, that of Hercules carrying out his tenth labour of bringing back from the end of the world the uncooperative cattle of Geryon. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This copy belonged to the Spitalieri de Cessole family from Nice who amassed a great library. The gilt arms were commissioned by Henry de Cessole in 1850.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CRESCENZI, Pietro de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816153030991,"sku":"L2865","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2865.jpg?v=1781794932","url":"https:\/\/sokol-books-ltd.myshopify.com\/products\/crescenzi-pietro-de-1","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}