CURTIS (William). Directions for Cultivating the Crambe Maritima, or Sea Kale, for the use of the Table.1799

London: Printed by Stephen Couchman, First edition, 8vo (194 x 122 mm), 18pp., one hand-coloured engraved plate, later brown morocco, title stamped in gilt on upper cover, a nice copy. Crambe Maritima is related to the cabbage and was first cultivated as a vegetable towards the end of the eighteenth-century. William Curtis (1746-1799) was the first to publish a tract about his experiments of growing the plant as a vegetable crop, this was issued shortly before his death and is extremely rare. Provenance: Rothamsted Research Institute Library, with just a neat circular stamp to front paste-down. Henrey, 593; ESTC & JISC locating just 5 copies: BL and Natural History Museum in the UK; University of Chicago, Harvard University Oakes Ames Library and Cornell University in North America.