Ruralia Commoda

Provenance

Front and back endpaper with longer French ownership entries (partly erased), presumably of the 16th century, imply an early French owner.

Description / Expertise

This is the sixth Latin, and second illustrated edition of the important
manual on agriculture. It is one of the most attractive illustrated natural history books of the incunable period. The Ruralia commoda was translated into several languages from the mid-14th century and remained the leading standard work in agriculture, hunting and falconry until the 16th century.
In 1493 Peter Drach published a German translation illustrated with the same woodcuts as in the present version, which was printed shortly after that. The fine woodcuts represent husbandry scenes, many plants, animals, falconry, hunting, and other country pursuits.