The old book...

I love old books especially when they have a family link.

This one belonged to my grandfather William Young and then my dad Colin and is evidently quite rare. It is a first edition but not in very good condition.  Johnson Gamekeeper Directory.

This is a synopsis from AbeBooks.co.uk , where you can buy a 2005 reprint of the second edition.

This important historical record of the ways of an early gamekeeper is extremely difficult to find in its original printing. First penned in 1820, it was revised, and then published by the author's son in 1851 as a second edition. Very few of either edition remain today. We are 

now republishing it using the original revised text. Its 200 pages detail the life and work of a keeper in the first half of the 19th century. Some 150 years on, the reader will find much of the contents and advice still remains relevant to gamekeepers and shooting men. The author offers his book as a Practical book of instruction for the class to which it is particularly addressed, as well as to Sportsmen in general. Thirty-five concise chapters detail methods of preserving game, whilst advice is also given on controlling some thirty species of birds and mammals then considered vermin. Other chapters discuss: Trapping; Poisons; Hereditary Instinct; Observations on Poaching; The Game Laws; Steel Man Traps; Dog Spears; General Observation etc.

It is a first edition as the date of the first owner in the picture above is Sept 17th 1850 and a digital copy of the second edition is available to read here, it differs from this copy. 

It has survived but been used for well over 100 years... 

and in a way is still in use today as I remembered what had been written on the back page by my grandfather:

"Written in 1905... For Poisoning Rats..."

I have to admit I had never heard of Nux Vomica but the internet soon put me right. Given what it is I think we will be giving this one a miss...

Rat Update... No sighting on the camera last night...