The Farmer's Wife by [Unknown]

[Unknown]. The Farmer's Wife or Complete Country Housewife. Alex Hogg: London, [ca.1802]. 12mo (200x120mm) HC recased brown paper bds, frontispiece, [1]-11,24-132,[12 publisher catalogue]pp.

[Unknown].

The Farmer's Wife; or Complete Country Housewife. containing full and ample directions for the breeding and management of turkies, fowls, geese, ducks, pigeons &c. instructions for fattening hogs, pickling of pork, and curing of bacon. how to make sausages, hogs-puddings, &c. full instructions for making wines from various kinds of English fruits, and from Symrna raisins. the method of making cyder, perry, mead, mum, cherry-brandy &c. directions respecting the dairy containing the best way of making butter, and likewise Gloucester, Cheshire, Stilton, Sage, and Cream Cheese, &c. how to pickle common English fruits and vegetables, with other useful receipts for th efarmer's wife and country housekeeper. full instruction how to brew beer and ale, of all the various kinds made in this kingdom. ample directions respecting the management of bees, with an account of the use of honey. to which is added, the art of breeding and managing song birds in general; likewise a variety of receipts in cookery, and other particulars well worthy the attention of women of all ranks residing in the country.

London: Alex Hogg, No 6, Paternoster Row [between 1780-1802]. Printed by M Allen, Paternoster Row.

Duodecimo (200x120mm)  recased brown papered boards with cream paper spine label, engraved frontispiece, [1]-11,24,25-132,[12 publisher catalogue]pp.


Recased probably in the early to mid twentieth century, new endpapers, original front free endpaper retained, untrimmed edges lightly soiled and a trifle shabby;.  The unattributed engraved frontispiece is of a working farmyard.  Other cataloguers have suggested it to be by Page. There are 5 woodcut tailpieces and various ornaments to pps 25-132.  Title page bottom edge trimmed by 20mm (no loss of text to verso) omitting the price. Occasional light foxing throughout.


An intriguiging bibliographical puzzle or amalgam, the text is in two distinct parts and the pagination and printing are odd.  Pages 1-24 are on wove paper, trimmed and in 12 pt Caslon.  Pages 11 (recto) and 24 (verso) are contiguous. Pages 25-132 are on laid paper, untrimmed and in 16pt Caslon.  The publisher catalogue is on laid paper, untrimmed and dated 1802. 

Comparing the text to the digital copy held by Leeds University (dated to ca.1780), pages 25-132 conform with that copy in both content and format.  Pages 1-24 conform as to content save as to one paragraph on Wild Ducks that should be between pps 11 and 24, but is not in this copy; perhaps by design.  Pages 1-24 are in a different font and pagination.  Two editions of this work are known to exist, one with 125pp and one with 132pp. The title page and content of pages 1-24 conform with that of the 132pp edition, but the pagination is different; suggesting pps 1-24 may be from an unknown later edition.

The chapter on beekeeping and honey production is comprehensive and detailed for its time.  The chapter on songbirds is unusual.  A useful work for Georgian farmers and country housewives with practical instructions on food preparation and preservation for use in a still room that is still relevant to housekeepers today. 

Defective but scarce, in any format.

§ Cagle 680; Oxford p.111; ESTC T55601; cf. Maclean p52 (125pp edition).  OCLC records only ten holdings in Britain and the USA.