LA QUINTINYE (Jean de). Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers, avec un traité des orangers, suivy de quelques réflexions sur l'agriculture. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1690. 2 volumes in-4, speckled calf, ornate spine, mottled edges (contemporary binding). First edition of this great classic of horticultural and agronomic literature. The illustrations include a portrait of the author by Cornelis Vermeulen after Florent de La Mare-Richart, 13 out-of-text plates (including a double-page plan of the King's kitchen garden at Versailles), 9 heading vignettes showing the work of the Versailles gardeners, and a number of woodcut plans of gardens in the text. Jean de La Quintinye (1626-1688) was general director of the King's fruit and vegetable gardens. The Instruction pour les jardins, his main work, was published after his death and immediately went through several editions, culminating in the Nouveau La Quintinye published by Le Berryais in 1775. He remained a reference in agronomy throughout the 18th century. A fine copy in contemporary binding, with this repeated ex-dono in a contemporary hand: "Donné par Monsieur le Président d'Hocqueville notre fondateur". This was probably Pierre de Becdelièvre (1639-1726), Marquis of Hocqueville and Cany, first president of the Court of Aids of Normandy and lord of Grainville, where he founded the Hospital de la Charité in 1692. Two headpieces very skilfully rebound, portrait rebacked, angular repair to one endpaper, minor worm damage at foot of a few leaves, light spotting and dampening to a few leaves. Pritzel, n°5075.