Silva: or, A discourse of forest-trees
Subtitle: and the propagation of timber in His majesty's dominions: As it was delivered in the Royal Society  on the 15th day of October, 1662, upon occasion of certain quaeries propounded to that illustrious assembly, by the honourable the principal officers and commissioners of the Navy. Together with an historical account of the sacredness and use of standing groves. By John Evelyn ... With notes by A. Hunter ...
Publisher: Printed by A. Ward, for J. Dodsley [etc.]; [etc., etc.]
Published: 1776
Place of publication: York; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 649
Subjects: Trees -- Great Britain.
Notes: The heavy demand for timber in England from the 16th century onward was creating a growing shortage and causing considerable anxiety.  Wood was being used extravagantly for domestic fuel, and large quantities in the form of charcoal were being consumed by the iron and glass industries.  Little was being done to replant trees, and increasingly, land was becoming converted to corn and pasture.  The Navy was experiencing difficulty in obtaining the necessary wood for the building of ships and asked the Royal Society to direct its attention to the problem.  Several papers were produced by Fellows, and Evelyn was asked to study them, add his own observations, and then make a digest of the whole.  Thus, was the impetus for his original edition, published in 1664.  It aroused great public interest and was a success from the start.  Its publication gave a great stimulus to planting in Britain, Charles II setting the example with the replenishing of the Royal Forest.  The poet Robert Southey said that in his opinion it was "one of the few books in the world which completely effected what it was designed to do."  There can be little doubt that no other work on arboriculture exerted a greater influence on forestry.  More than 100 years later, however, much of the timber planted in Evelyn's day was rapidly becoming exhausted due to the demands of the continuing wars with France.  "Hunter's re-publication of the Sylva revived the ardour which the first edition had excited, and while forests were laid prostrate to protect our shores from the insults of the enemy, the nobility and gentry began once more to sow the seeds of future navies ...Landwoners planted for patriotic reasons and for the value of timber as a long-term investment.  They also followed the fashion, which became increasingly popular during the century, of using trees in a general plan for the embellishment of estates.  Thus, Dr. Hunter chose a most appropriate time to republish Sylva." ---Henrey I, pp. 101-14. Henrey I, 137 (p.245).  "The Sylva was written as a protest against the destruction of trees in England which was being carried on by the glass factories and iron furnaces; it succeeded in inducing land-owners to start in on a much needed reforestation program that had a lasting effect on the British economy."---Hunt Catalogue I, 318.  Alexander Hunter's edition "added extensive notes and virtually doubled the size of Evelyn's text...References to the best eighteenth-century authorities lead the reader to the work of Linnaeus, Stephen Hales, Richard Bradley, Philip Miller, William Hanbury, Duhamel du Monceau, Buffon, and Pehr Kalm.

4to.  Bound in contemporary mottled calf, expertly rebacked,  frontispiece portrait by Francesco Bartolozzi, one folding table, and 40 plates.  A bit of light staining to the extreme outer margin of a few leaves.  Some light offsetting from some of the plates.