Honeybees, with their wide distribution, economic importance and relationship with humans, have inspired more writing than any other insect. The earliest European books on bees preserved and re-iterated classical writings on the subject. In the seventeenth century, with its spirit of enlightenment, books published on beekeeping bear witness to a flowering of scientific inquiry into the life of the bee and better ways to manage them. Men of education and means consolidated this position in the eighteenth century with books describing practical beekeeping that presented new ideas for improved management and hive design.