This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/28/2023
[WILDMAN, Daniel] A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR… Dublin: Printed for Philip Astley, Also sold by Mrs. Astley, so well known for her command over the bees, 1774. Handsomely bound with marbled boards over tooled smooth calf spine, roan title label stamped in gilt (“Wildman on Bees”). Copperplate engraved frontispiece. Vi, [7] – 38. 12mo. Very good or better.
Wildman was far more than a beekeeper; he conceived and performed an act on horseback which was evidence of his own “command over the bees,” as he stood atop a galloping horse wearing a beard made of bees. By one account he also trained the insects to alternately march over a tabletop while another group from the same hive swarmed about in the air before returning, en masse, to their home.