In the early 1640s Henry Best, a gentleman farmer of Elmswell in the East Riding of Yorkshire, composed an account of his farming practices. The resulting Farming Book provides a unique account of seventeenth-century farming, of the marketing of agricultural produce, and of rural customs. It is here published in a new transcription by Donald Woodward. In addition, a complete transcript of Henry Best's Memorandum Book is published for the first time; this volume gives details of a wide range of day-to-day transactions mainly during the period 1617 to 1645. The editor adds greatly to our knowledge of Henry Best, his family and estate in a substantial introduction, and much ancillary documentary evidence is provided in a series of appendices. The volume is rounded off by an extensive new glossary prepared by Peter McClure.
