1857 Hints to Young Barbados-Planters

Description

First Edition, Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce

The first edition of this work. Not seen at auction in the last forty years. With a half-title. Published by Israel Bowen in Bridge Town, Barbados, printed in London by Harrison and Sons. Copies on Jisc held at Kew Libraries and the University of Southampton both state having 203 pages. However this copy has 214 pages, with pages 204-214 comprising of a catalogue of agricultural equipments for sale by Ransome & Sims, Ipswich. This is clearly a part of the original work but is not recorded in any other copy in Copac. Collated, complete. A fascinating treatise on the island agriculture of Barbados, with advice for young managers and bookkeepers on their duties. The author also remarks on the manufacture of sugar, and also the principles of science. Reece also raises the question of the education of those wishing to be planters, suggesting that there should be a system of schools somewhat superior to parish-schools, in order to get them well rained in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Currently, around 37.2% of the land in Barbados is arable, and was almost all devoted to sugarcane in the past, with sugar dominating the economy until the 1950s. The port in Bridgetown, where this book was published, is significant for being home to the major port for cargo ships docking in Barbados. Written by Robert Reece, a barrister of the Inner Temple, the father of the dramatist of the same name. He owned a plantation at Bannatyne and The Hope. A very scarce first edition on this work on agriculture in Barbados.