SCHABOL, Roger, M. L'Abbé.   DICTIONNAIRE POUR LA THÉORIE ET LA PRATIQUE DU JARDINAGE   Et De L'Agriculture, Par Principes, Et Démontrées d'après des Végetaux.       Paris: Chez DeBure,   1767.          First edition. This dictionary of horticultural and agricultural terms was Schabol's only book to be published during his lifetime. It was prepared as a useful accompaniment to his planned THEORIE DU JARDINAGE and PRATIQUE DU JARDINAGE - works which were later edited and published posthumously by Antoine-Nicholas Dézallier-D'Argenville. These three works introduced to general readers the more advanced horticultural techniques long perfected, and zealously concealed, by the market gardeners of Montreuil just east of Paris. Schabol had studied the Montreuil fruit growers for many years and in the enthusiastic 51 page preface to his dictionary he praises their unique and highly successful cultivation methods. A devoted and observant gardener, Schabol found these methods more productive and more in tune with nature than those passed down by La Quintinie. The fact that the Montreuil gardeners had developed their own unique vocabulary to describe their operations made it necessary for Schabol to prepare a dictionary that would include an explanation of these terms for the uninitiated. Unlike his two later volumes on theory and practice, Schabol's dictionary is now quite scarce. Dezallier-D'Argenville also published a completely revised edition in 1777.   8vo (16.5 x 10 cm); lxxviii + 531 pp with occasional engraved text vignettes or printer's devices..   Musset-Pathay 433.          Original full calf, raised bands, gilt decorated spine panels, marbled endpapers; previous ownership penned at top of title page; very minor old worming and shelfwear on binding, else an extremely bright and well preserved copy. $850.00

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