AGRONOMIST

[Sir Frank Stockdale: agriculture in Britain's African colonies, 1929-37.] Four official Autograph Journals by Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor Sir Frank Stockdale, describing in detail tours in Crown Colonies in East and West Africa and Cyprus.

Author: 
Sir Frank Stockdale [Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale] (1883-1949), distinguished agronomist and mycologist, Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor
Publication details: 
Written between 1929 and 1937. Entries relating to England, East and West Africa, Cyprus, Sudan and Egypt. [Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Ghana, Gambia.]
£3,000.00

Stockdale’s entry in the Oxford DNB provides an excellent commentary on the present four items: ‘An assumption that colonial economies should continue to be dominated by the export of cash crops, and a faith in Western scientific agriculture led in 1929 to the establishment of the colonial agricultural service with a colonial advisory council of agriculture and animal health, and a full-time agricultural adviser, a position to which Stockdale was appointed.

[Sir Frank Stockdale, distinguished agronomist and colonial civil servant.] Family photograph album, with a few items of ephemera including his funeral service.

Author: 
Sir Frank Stockdale [Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale] (1883-1949), distinguished agronomist and mycologist, Colonial Office Agricultural Advisor
Publication details: 
Containing material from the 1920s to the 1940s. Most of the photographs and other material from England.
£500.00

Stockdale was for decades the leading figure in his field within the British Empire and later the Commonwealth, and his work undoubtedly saved countless lives, and increased the welfare of many thousands. See his appreciative entry in the Oxford DNB, in which he is described as 'in many respects ahead of his time'. The present collection comprises a family photograph album with 86 photographs inserted and loose, with a copy of his funeral service, and few other items. All the material is in good condition, with only light signs of age and wear.

[Paul Axel Boving, Swedish-born Canadian agronomist.] Long Autograph Letter Signed ('Paul.'), in English, to his brother Jens Orten Boving, discussing farming and family matters.

Author: 
Paul Axel Boving (1874-1947), Swedish-born Canadian academic, Professor of Agronomy at the University of British Columbia [Jens Orten Boving (1873-1959), was a hydro-electric engineer]
Publication details: 
3 January 1923. Vancouver [Canada], on letterheads of the University of British Columbia.
£250.00

19pp, 8vo. On ten foliated leaves. On aged paper; the first leaf with slight damage and loss to corner and one edge, with minor loss to text. Addressed to 'My dear Jens'. According to Elinor Barr, 'Swedes in Canada: Invisible Immigrants' (2015), Boving 'developed several new strains of forage crops and grains'. The recipient, Boving's brother Jens Orten Boving (1873-1959), was a hydro-electric engineer and inventor based in London, responsible, according to 'Who's Who in Engineering', 1922, 'for a large number of water-power plants, pulp mills and pumping plants in all parts of the world'.

[Sir J. B. Lawes and Sir J. H. Gilbert, agricultural scientists.] Three printed works: 'Report of Experiments on the Growth of Wheat', presentation copy; 'The Effect of Different Manures'; 'On the Chemistry of the Feeding of Animals', by Lawes alone.

Author: 
J. B. Lawes and J. H. Gilbert [Sir John Bennet Lawes (1814-1900) and Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert (1817-1901), agricultural scientists] [Royal Agricultural Society of England; Royal Dublin Society]
Publication details: 
First two: [Royal Agricultural Society of England.] London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, and Charing Cross. 1863 and 1864. Third: [Royal Dublin Society.]: Dublin: Printed at the University Press, by M. H. Gill. 1864.
£350.00

See the entries on the two men in the Oxford DNB. In an impressive description of their joint achievements, the entry on Gilbert describes his association with Lawes as 'one of the longest and most productive scientific partnerships on record [...] In agricultural circles their names are for ever linked'. The first two items are in uniform light-blue printed card covers; the last is of similar appearance, in printed card covers of the same colour. In good condition, lightly aged.

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