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CROMELLIN, Louis. An essay Towards the Improving the hempen and flaxen manufactures in the kingdom of ireland.

Dublin. Printed by Andrew Crook, 1705. First edition.
Quarto. [6], 43pp, [5]. With six of seven plates. Later blind-tooled brown morocco, lettered in gilt to upper board, all edges red. A trifle rubbed. Marbled endpapers, title page and one plate laid down, the latter with loss.
A rare survival, albeit slightly defective, of the first edition of the work upon which the reputation of linen manufacturer Louis Crommelin (1652-1727) is based; one of the earliest published books on the subject of linen production in Ireland.

In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, exiled Huguenot linen workers were attracted to settle in the cathedral town of Lisburn, on the borders of counties Antrim and Down. In 1696, English parliament passed an act inviting foreign protestants to settle in Ireland, and admitting all products of hemp and flax duty free from Ireland to England. In an effort to encourage the linen manufactures of Ireland, William III contacted Crommelin, a reputable and well-established Huguenot linen manufacturer in Amsterdam to inquire into the condition of the French colony at Lisburn, and to outline the terms on which he would agree to act as director of the linen manufacture there. Crommelin arrived in Ireland in the autumn of 1698 and shortly thereafter set about drawing up his proposals for improving the industry. The commissioners of the Treasury approved of the proposals, and duly granted Crommelin a royal patent and the title of 'overseer of the royal linen manufacture of Ireland', with an advance of £10,000 to carry out the necessary works. Crommelin ordered 1000 looms from the Continent, contracted craftsmen to improve the old Irish spinning wheel, and engaged Dutch workers to teach improved methods of flax growing to farmers.

In his An essay Towards the Improving the hempen and flaxen manufactures in the Kingdom of Ireland, Crommelin relates his notions regarding the best methods of sowing, dressing, and bleaching flax. Though the techniques advocated were considered innovative by his contemporaries, Crommelin's initiatives were not particularly successful from a financial point of view, and were later judged impractical. The work is best read as a testament to Crommelin's redoubtable talent for self-promotion; a propagandising document designed to curry favour with his royal patron and encourage the sympathies of Parliament whom he continuously petitioned for further funds. The book was reprinted in 1734.

ESTC records copies at twelve locations (BL, Belfast, Cambridge, Dublin City Libraries, Folger, Harvard, King's Inns, Limerick, NLI, Senate House, Trinity College Dublin, Yale).
ESTC T88532
£ 2,000.00 Antiquates Ref: 30941