117. (Tessedik Sámuel) Theschedik, Samuel: A’ paraszt ember...

... Magyar Országban, Mitsoda és mi lehetne; egy jó rendbe-szedett falunak rajzolatjával egyetemben. ~ által. most pedig Németbűl Magyarra fordította Kónyi János.
Pétsett, 1786. Engel. (2)+508p. The appendix is missing from our copy.
One of the most significant works of Hungarian agricultural literature. The author was of German origin (contrary to popular belief, he was not Slovak, although he spoke the language) and was a Lutheran pastor. In addition to his significant pedagogical work, he did a great deal to promote and modernise Hungarian agriculture and to uplift the peasantry. This volume can be considered his most significant work. It was first published in German two years earlier (see our next item). Surviving letters reveal that Tessedik sent a copy of it to Count Ferenc Széchényi. He asked his protégé, János Kónyi, a guard master, to translate the work, and then, as the chief magistrate of Baranya County, had it printed at his own expense in Pécs. In the book, Tessedik lists the reasons for the poor situation of the peasantry: the backwardness of school education, the lack of modern knowledge, poor farming and animal husbandry conditions, the small village settlement system, harmful customs, superstitions, and the lack of necessary markets. He then describes what he believes to be the ideal village layout and the ideal village: how the streets and houses should be arranged, and how the peasants living in them can farm profitably. The large appendix, which is missing from our copy, is entitled "Rajzolatja egy jó rendbe vett falunak" (Plan of a well-ordered village).
Contemporary hardpaper.
 
Starting price: 150 000,-