Sylva, Or, a Discourse of Forest Trees With an Essay on the Life and Works of the Author

John Evelyn (1620–1706), intellectual, diarist, gardener and founder member of the Royal Society, is best known for his Diary, the great journal of his life and times, encompassing a momentous period in British history. A lifelong collector of books, like his contemporary Pepys, Evelyn amassed over 4,000 items in his library. This work, originally published in 1664, was the first English-language treatise on forestry. Intended for the gentry, it aimed to encourage tree-planting after the ravages of the Civil War and to ensure a supply of timber for Britain's fast-developing navy. The first work sponsored officially by the Royal Society, it was an offshoot of Evelyn's unpublished manuscript Elysium Britannicum, a compendium of gardens and gardening. This is the 1908 two-volume reprint of the fourth edition, published in the year of Evelyn's death. Volume 2 covers practical aspects of forestry and the use of trees in landscaping.

Book III: 1. Of copp'ces; 2. Of pruning; 3. Of the age, stature, and felling of trees; 4. Of timber, the seasoning and uses, and of fuel; 5. Aphorisms, or certain general precepts of use to the foregoing chapters; 6. Of the laws and statutes for the preservation and improvement of woods and forests; 7. The paraenesis and conclusion, containing some encouragements and proposals for the planting and improvement of his majesty's forests, and other amunities for shades, and ornament; Book IV: An historical account of the sacredness and use of standing groves, etc.; Renati Rapini Hortorum liber II.

John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist, gardener and founder member of the Royal Society, is best known for his Diary, the great journal of his times. Sylva, first published in 1664, was the first English-language treatise on forestry. This 1908 two-volume reissue is of the fourth edition published in the year of Evelyn's death.