Hall's Distiller ... Adapted to the use of farmers as well as Distillers [INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR]

x,244pp., with engraved plate (opp.p.223, 'Mr. H. Sargeant's Machine for raising water') and . folding frontis (diagram, 'Improvements by Henry Witmer upon Anderson's Patent Condensing Tub'), small closed tear, attractive contemporary tree calf, red leather label, corners bumpedtop and bottom of spine also, other signs of wear browned and foxed throughout (reason given later), hinge strain front and back (with failed attempt to repair from with tape), ownership notes on endpapers, slightly damaged, else very good. INSCRIBED "Harrison Hall" (Author) on front pastedown. Two other ownership signatures. A comprehensive early American treatise on making all manner of liquors, including wines, beer, ciders, cordials, gin, and whisky. Hall provides directions for mashing and distilling all kinds of grain and descriptions of the different types of stills used in the United States, with a list of patents granted in the United States for improvements in distillation, on stills and refining liquors (pp.238- 244). On the final page, p.244 the end of the "List of Patents" is followed by an unusual address "To the reader", providing an explanation for the browning and foxing: 'The author has to apologise for a few errors, which have occurred in the printing, owing to his absence from the city. This is followed by a few errata. To the same cause, also, must be attributed the difference in the quality of the paper made use of." A very early American book on distilling.