Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie

About the book

Thomas Tusser organizes advice about husbandry and domestic management in memorable verse, connecting seasonal tasks with judgments about diligence, economy, and conduct. The rhymes are practical devices as well as literary forms: they make repeated labour easier to recall and place it within a recognizable social order. This scholarly edition presents the 1580 text alongside material from earlier versions, including the shorter Hundred Good Points, and supplies an introduction, notes, and a substantial glossary. Historical spelling and vocabulary are part of the reading experience, not accidental damage to be ignored. The book is useful as evidence of agricultural language and ideals, rather than as modern farming instruction. Readers can trace how a calendar of necessary tasks also defines expectations for the people expected to perform them.

• Work and seasons
• Household order
• Language and memory

Why read it

For a distinctive meeting of practical instruction, verse, and the vocabulary of early modern rural life.

1580 text with earlier material · edited by W. Payne and Sidney J. Herrtage, 1878