Libro de la destreza berdadera de las armas.
Spain, L. Méndez de Carmona 1640.
(254 x 185 mm.) MANUSCRIPT. Contemporary foliation: [v], 68 [r. 67]; 23; [5], 71, [r. 70], [3]; 31 [r. 34], [6]; 34 [r. 32], [1] leaves. In a single cursive hand, ETCHED AND ENGRAVED TITLE AND FULL-PAGE PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR inserted at the front.
Contemporary limp vellum (worn), uncut.
THE SEVILLE FENCING MASTER’S AUTOGRAPH DRAFTS AND PREPARATORY MATERIALS FOR HIS MOST COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL — HITHERTO UNSTUDIED AND UNPUBLISHED.
A seminal work of Renaissance swordsmanship, the Book of the True Skill at Arms illustrates the style of combat that shaped over two centuries of Spanish and New World fencing. The Verdadera Destreza considers fencing an exact science, “a comprehensive system for the use of bladed weapons…imbued with humanistic concepts” (Valle Ortiz).
THIS MANUSCRIPT PRESERVES AT LEAST FOUR STAGES OF TEXTUAL REVISION, ORGANIZATION AND EMPHASIS. The earliest draft (bound last) is fragmented and has partial paragraph numeration. An intermediate draft gives the full text in 150 heavily edited paragraphs and includes passages later discarded, for example a preface, a section of questions and answers and a comparison of sword play to musical harmony.
The two etchings announce the final draft (bound first) in 178 numbered paragraphs. These define and describe the four types of movement, the seventy angles in the human body, footwork and the positions of arm and sword — all based on the ideal distance between opponents. Practical advice on teaching, on memory, on quick reflexes and on training with heavier weapons concludes this version.
A glossary of fencing terms, miscellaneous remarks, four mnemonic poems and an additional partial draft of the section on attacks and hits are interspersed throughout.
THIS VOLUME REVEALS MÉNDEZ DE CARMONA’S COMPOSITIONAL METHOD. He worked on loose bifolia. He regularly removed, replaced and repositioned individual leaves, as he annotated, corrected and added text on over 300 pages. This produced “gatherings” mixing bifolia and singletons. Each of these gatherings was individually stabbed with thread, marked on the last verso with its number of leaves (15 to 27), then bound with its companions as we find them now.
In good condition. A faint note at the front reads En Santa Fe de Bogotá nasiste, Alonso Jimenez te rendido de paños… (“In Santa Fe de Bogotá you were born, Alonso Jimenez gave you clothes”, tr.); etched arms of (likely) Don Alvaro de Bazán y Manrique de Lara (c. 1590-1660) on the third recto; from the fencing libraries of Edouard de Beaumont (Catalogue (6.IV.1888) 98) and Jack Gorlin (The J. Gorlin Collection (26.III.1992) 202).
¶Vindel ed., Avisos importantes…por Luis Mendez de Carmona viii-xi; Valle Ortiz, “The Destreza Verdadera: A Global Phenomenon” in Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books edd. Jaquet et. al. 324-531; Palau 163091n (“author’s autograph”, tr.); Leguina, Bibliografia e historia de la Esgrima Española 117; Pardoel, The Complete Bibliography of the Art & Sport of Fencing 923; Thimm, A Complete Bibliography of Fencing 46; Gelli, Bibliografia…della scherma 592; see Castle’s Schools and Masters of Fence 67-73.
Price: $75,000.00