Cottage Economy: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Cottage Economy, credited to William Cobbett, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Cottage Economy, by William Cobbett. Read by Philippa. How can you tell when your pig is fat enough? Why should you never buy mustard? What's wrong with eating potatoes? Which is better, beer or tea? And what type of straw makes the best bonnets? William Cobbett is the man to ask. Here is his book of practical advice to the rural labouring 'cottager' (first published as a part-work in 1821-22), the precursor in many ways to the handbooks on self-sufficiency that today entice so many city-dwellers. A champion of the rural working class at a time of huge social and industrial change, a radical politician and a prolific writer, Cobbett is opinionated, passionate and enlightening, making 'Cottage Economy' a fascinating and entertaining window on daily life for the smallholders of his day, and still inspirational, almost 200 years later, to those who seek 'a good living' as the foundation of happiness. (Introduction by Philippa) The figures referred to in the section on ice houses can be viewed here.

Recording facts

• Recording title: Cottage Economy
• Author credits: William Cobbett
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 11
• Listed recording duration: 5:50:31

Catalogue topics

• self-sufficiency
• advice
• smallholding
• livestock
• brewing
• 19th century life
• agriculture
• farming

Track guide

1. 01 - No.1: Introduction; Brewing Beer — 41:54
2. 02 - No.2: Brewing Beer (continued) — 40:23
3. 03 - No.3: Making Bread — 40:42
4. 04 - No.4: Making Bread (cont.); Brewing Beer; Keeping Cows — 34:11
5. 05 - No. 5: Keeping Cows (continued); Keeping Pigs — 31:01
6. 06 - No. 6: Keeping Pigs (continued); Salting Mutton and Beef — 29:45
7. 07 - No. 7, part 1: Bees; Geese; Ducks; Turkeys; Fowls; Pigeons — 29:23
8. 08 - No. 7, part 2: Rabbits; Goats and Ewes; Candles and Rushes; Mustard; Dress, Household Goods, and Fuel; Hops; Yeast; Swedish Turnip — 24:56
9. 09 - No. 8, part 1: English Straw Plat; Postscript on Brewing — 49:00
10. 10 - No. 8, part 2: Ice Houses — 14:45
11. 11 - Addition: Mangel Wurzel; Cobbett's Corn — 14:37

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.