
          EARLY HORTICULTURAL LITERATURE

A Check List of

16th, 17th and 18th Century Works on
HORTICULTURE

(Critical Report on its Aims, Failures, and Possibilities)

INTRODUCTION

It is a half dozen years since work on this list was stopped, and a longer time
since I worked on it, so it is now possible to see it in perspective.  I say advisedly,
"stopped", rather than ended; as there still remain large groups of ancient or classic
works, comprising hundreds of titles and editions, which were of so little immediate
interest that it seemed best to pass them by until the data on minor authors and 
individual 
works (possibly less important but more often in question) had been worked up.

Of course there can be no illusions about the completeness of the work as a whole,
either as to coverage of titles within its professed scope, or accuracy of the material
already in loose-leaf form. It has been possible to treat the writings of some authors
in a capable and even scholarly way, but in other cases it was clear that the material
could not be properly edited without examination of books that were not available, and
some not in America.  It is not so regrettable that the list does not cover all existing
works on horticultural topics, but it is unfortunate that it lacks authentic data
on so many of the works listed, even those definitely located in libraries.

On reexamining the list after this lapse of time it is possible to criticise [criticize] its
trends and possibilities more constructively than while it was in progress; and point
out defects in the handling of the material and ways in which it can be reorganized in
order to put portions of it into pemanent practical use.

ORIGINAL AIM

No valid criticism can be made without taking into account the object for which
it was originally intended. It grew up as a collection of data about books that were
considered for purchase by the Department of Agriculture.  Many of these were not covered
by bibliographies, and others were almost unknown. In correspondence on the subject
of horticultural bibliography in the Gardeners' Chronicle (London) in 1918, Miss
Warner wrote (Gard. Chron. (3) 64:194, Nov.16,1918):
        