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The work is a seventeenth‑century manual of household and farm management, compiled by Thomas Tusser and presented as “Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie.” The opening pages are occupied not by narrative but by a scholarly preface that explains how the present edition was assembled from earlier printings of 1557, 1577 and 1580, with the aid of several nineteenth‑century editors and a detailed index of words. This introductory material establishes the book’s structure, a series of seasonal “abstracts” and “husbandrie” sections, interspersed with riddles, poems and practical advice on everything from planting herbs to household chores, so readers can see at a glance that the text is a comprehensive guide to rural life rather than a story.
Tusser’s voice is that of a plain‑spoken, didactic poet who mixes practical instruction with moral reflections, using the spelling and rhythm of mid‑Tudor English. The style is brisk, often rhymed, and peppered with provincial sayings that give a vivid sense of the era’s agrarian culture. Readers who enjoy historical recipes, early modern domestic advice, or the linguistic flavor of pre‑modern English will find this compilation a rewarding glimpse into the everyday concerns of a sixteenth‑century English farmer.
The opening · free to read
With regard to the preparation of this Edition a few words may be necessary. As the Members of the Society are aware, the task was originally undertaken by Mr. W. Payne. Ill-health unfortunately prevented him from carrying the work to a completion, but to him the Society is indebted for the supervision of the reprint of the Edition of 1580, which he collated most carefully with the editions of 1557 and 1577, and to which he added several pieces from those editions, thus making the present reprint more complete than any yet published. Mr. Payne also compiled a very complete Index of Words, which has been of great assistance to me for purposes of reference, and in preparing the Glossary. The notes also from Tusser Redivivus (marked T.R.) were for the most part extracted by Mr. Payne.
A reprint of the First Edition of 1557 was not included in the original programme, but after the work came into my hands an opportunity was presented through the kindness of Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who lent for the purpose his copy of the reprint of 1810, of exhibiting the work in its original form of "One hundreth Points" side by side with the extended edition of 1580, the last which had the benefit of the author's supervision. The proof-sheets have been collated with the unique copy in the British Museum by Miss Toulmin-Smith, to whom I return my thanks for her kindness, and the correctness of the reprint may consequently be relied on. From Mr. F. J. Furnivall I have received numerous hints, and much valuable help, while to Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S., I am indebted for his kindness in revising and supplementing the notes on the Plants named in Tusser. But my chief obligations are due to the Rev. W. W. Skeat, whose uniform kindness has considerably lightened my labours, and from whom both directly and indirectly (through the notes in his numerous publications), but more particularly in his noble edition of Piers Plowman, I have derived the greatest assistance.
S. J. H.
May 14th, 1878.
[Transcriber's note: The original print edition has both page footnotes and an end section of 'Notes and Illustrations.' In this digital edition, the page footnotes are grouped at the end of each chapter and renumbered accordingly: [1], [[2], etc. References to the endnotes are numbered [E1], [E2], etc. The html version also links words in the main text to their reference points in the Glossary.
The 'Erratum' on p. xxxii of the print edition has been silently corrected within the text, and the 'Additional Notes' on p. 317 are now incorporated within the preceding 'Notes and Illustrations.']
CONTENTS.
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