An Address to Farmers on the Following Interesting Subjects...to Which is Added an Appendix, Containing the Most Approved Methods for the Management and Improvement of Tillage, Mowing and Pasture Lands; and for the Practice of the Art of Husbandry ...

Salem, Massachusetts: John Dabney, 1796. 61 pp. 19.5 x 12 cm. Full calf covered boards with gilt tooling to edges of boards; printed at Newburyport by Blunt and March for John Dabney. Wear and some staining to boards. Spine completely missing, and text bock is completely detached from boards. Dampstaining to title page, with presumed previous owner's name writing in ink at head of first page. A few words have been crossed out within the text, with corrections or alternatives written above. Toning throughout text, which is uncut and has several nicks and dog-ears to leaves. Pages are bound together with thread through two holes, with evidence of a third hole for the binding. Missing pages 63 and 64, which contained the postscript that showed the "Labor to be Performed in each month of the Year. (Extracted principally from the Farmer's Almanack for 1795)". Although the title page states that the information was "Extracted principally from a variety of Authors, who have written judiciously on these important subjects", John Dabney is generally noted to be the author of this booklet. Dabney was a postmaster, publisher, and bookseller in Salem, Massachusetts. He ran the Salem Book-Store, from which he would have sold copies of this brief manual along with copies of his "New-England Primer". After nearly thirty years in business as a bookseller, Dabney sold the contents of his shop at auction and died one year later. This manual, which is scarce within the trade, contains brief chapters on the "Character of a complete Farmer", "The Importance of Manure", "The management of Cyder", "Engaging in Lawsuits", among other subjects.. Hard Cover. Good.