The Farming and Memorandum Books of Henry Best of Elmswell, 1642 : With a Glossary and Linguistic Commentary by Peter McClure

In the early 1640s Henry Best, a gentleman farmer of Elmswell in the East Riding of Yorkshire, composed an account of his farming practices.

The resulting Farming Book provides a unique account of seventeenth-century farming, of the marketing of agricultural produce, and of rural customs.

It is here published in a new transcription by Donald Woodward.

In addition, a complete transcript of Henry Best's Memorandum Book is published for the first time; this volume gives details of a wide range of day-to-day transactions mainly during the period 1617 to 1645.

The editor adds greatly to our knowledge of Henry Best, his family and estate in a substantial introduction, and much ancillary documentary evidence is provided in a series of appendices.

The volume is rounded off by an extensive new glossary prepared by Peter McClure.