Beekeeping | A group of four volumes

A group of four volumes on beekeeping, comprising:

(i) John Thorley. Melissologia, or the Female Monarchy. Being an enquiry into the nature, order and government of bees. London: for the author, 1744. FIRST EDITION, 8vo (198 x 117 mm), list of subscribers, 5 engraved plates including frontispiece (of which 4 folding), 4 page publisher's catalogue, 6-line manuscript verse in an eighteenth-century hand to the verso of "An Explanation of the Plates" leaf, contemporary calf, spine with raised bands in six compartments, red morocco label to second compartment, traces of engraved armorial bookplate to front pastedown, occasional browning, plates with slight offsetting, binding worn and chipped, [British Bee Books 97]

(ii) John Keys. The Antient Bee-Master's Farewell; or full and plain directions for the management of bees to the greatest advantage. London: G.G. and J. Robinson, 1796. 8vo (202 x 132 mm), half-title, 2 engraved plates, contemporary half calf, occasional light spotting or marginal soiling, boards detached and spine chipped

(iii) John Milton. The Practical Bee-keeper; or concise and plain instructions for the management of bees and hives. London: J.W. Parker, 1843. Small 8vo (175 x 106 mm), engraved frontispiece, further in-text illustrations, original dark green cloth, frontispiece laid down, residue of old paper labels on upper cover and spine

(iv) Alfred Neighbour. The Apiary; or Bees, Bee-hives and Bee Culture. London: Kent & Co., 1865. FIRST EDITION, 8vo (219 x 141 mm), title-page (with erased nineteenth-century ownership inscription), engraved plates, publisher's green cloth gilt, brown endpapers (front endpaper with slight residue from removed bookplate), extremities slightly bumped

PROVENANCE:

Sale, Bonhams, 19 October 2004, (i) lot 390, (ii) lot 387, (iii–iv) lot 389