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Good
English Cider |
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Little is known about
John Worlidge beyond the books he wrote on agricultural reform,
including horticulture, beekeeping, and cidermaking. Beginning with
Systema Agriculturae: The mystery of husbandry discovered
(first published in 1669), many of his titles were republished several
times each, and in most cases by bookseller Thomas Dring. Vinetum
Britannicum, for instance, was published in three editions
within fifteen years; the 1678 edition depicted here is the second.
This copy is bound with Worlidge's Apiarium; or A Discourse
of the Government and Ordering of Bees. Each treatise has its
own copper-engraved frontispiece (as announced on the titlepage),
and all In his title and preface, Worlidge informs us that cider ought to be the preferred drink of the English. The text, peppered with jingoistic rhetoric, is intended to instruct the English gentleman farmer about cider production and its virtues as good English drink. The frontispiece, opposite the title page, illustrates the topics that are identified as important in the text; namely, the propagation of fruit, the manufacture of cider from that fruit, and its intended audience. The etching, arranged in two registers, shows the "new-invented ingenio" and the press at work. The image of the ingenio dominates the pictorial space in the upper register. To its left is an image of an apple tree and to the right a bushel of apples. The three images function together to illustrate the propagation of the fruit, picking the fruit, and grinding the apples. The narrative continues in the lower register. An image of the working cider press dominates. To its left we see a barrel. Its spout is open and cider is pouring into a bucket. To the right, in the background, an image of a house directs our attention to the intended destination for the product, the British home. James McManus
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