Title: A profitable instruction of the perfite ordering of bees, with the marvellous nature, propertie, and governemente of them
Subtitle: and the necessarie uses both of their honie and waxe... to which is annexed a proper treatise, intituled: Certaine husbandly conjectures of dearth and plentie for euer, and other matters also meete for husbandmen to knowe
First published: 1579
Description: Seminal, but a little dated. The purely working beekeeper might not have time for it because its biological concepts are somewhat breathtakingly mistaken in some matters that today we take for granted. Remember, the book is 15th century. In those days the genders of bees were not yet understood, nor even their castes, nor were the roles of pollen and nectar. Furthermore, the black letter is a bit heavy on the naive modern eye, and the wording is practically unbelievably cumbersome, as you might gather from the title, abbreviated here. 
Natheless, for the thinking beekeeper, the book is worth a good scan, and even a read. It is not for you and me to sneer at a substantial book printed just a century after the death of Gutenberg.
Subjects: beekeeping, husbandry
People: Thomas Hyll (or Hill; both occur in the book)
Time periods: Non-fiction, deals with 15th-century beekeeping and agriculture.