Cavallo Frenato…Precede L’Opera Di Gio. Battista Ferraro suo padre…si tratta il modo di conseruar le Razze, disciplinar Caualli, & il modo di curargli.
Naples, A. Pace 1602.
Folio (342 x 241 mm.). [iix], 159, [1 blank], [4], 320 [r. 318], [1]p. THREE FULL-PAGE AND EIGHT FULL-HEIGHT WOODCUTS PRINTED IN RED AND BLACK, ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR FULL-PAGE WOODCUTS — FIVE SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, TWO THREE-QUARTER-PAGE AND SIXTEEN TEXT WOODCUTS, the eight divisional titles with a half-page woodcut of the Spanish crown’s emblem and motto.
Contemporary blind-decorated pigskin, outer frame of acanthus leaves, inner frame of foliage and blooms, daisies in the inner corners, central lozenge of rules and narrow foliage rolls (soiled, upper rear corner repaired prior to tooling), spine ruled, later manuscript title, evidence of four green linen ties, edges sprinkled red.
FIRST EDITION OF THIS INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL, TECHNICAL GUIDE AND ARTISAN’S PATTERN BOOK BY “ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE HORSEMEN OF THE FAMOUS NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL OF EQUITATION” (Dejager) and equerry to Philipp II of Spain.
THIS MAGNIFICENT ROYAL COMMISSION by Philipp II of Spain was posthumously edited by Pirro’s sons, who added their grandfather’s classic and previously unillustrated Delle razze, a history of equitation and equestrians, with chapters on skin, manes and colors, equine anatomy (full-page color woodcut), breeding, training, medical care and the stable master’s duties.
On Breeds perfectly complements their father’s work on bits, nosebands, bridles and halters from ancient times through the Renaissance. The scale reproductions span French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Turkish examples, include some of Pirro’s own designs and often show individual parts to assist in the manufacture of the piece. Numbers and manicules in the woodblocks link picture and text, and a cheek piece is illustrated with all its elements identified in both northern and southern Italian terminology to ensure clarity. Eleven full-page woodcuts show Hispano-Arab curb bits, important at the time and revived in the early 20th century by the French cavalry in North Africa.
METALWORKERS AND DECORATIVE ARTISTS HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF CAREFULLY EXECUTED MANNERIST ORNAMENT TO HAND, much of it quite fantastic — crocodiles, caryatids, gryphons, dragons, fish, oxen, lions, goats, armored warriors, wrestlers, Ottoman bowmen, dragonflies, moths, bees, butterflies, bells, claws, terrifying and seductive mythological creatures, masques, snakes, sphinxes, bucrania, elephant heads and imaginative geometric and vegetal imagery. The second edition (Venice 1620, sheets reissued 1653) employed reduced and frequently reversed recuttings.
A fine copy (lightly browned, a few leaves more so, title soiled, spot on three leaves) in an impressive contemporary binding, woodcut bookplate of E. Linckmaler.
¶Dejager, Great Books on Horsemanship 202; Wells, Horsemanship, a Bibliography 2387; Toole-Stott, Circus and Allied Arts 1953; Choné, “Avec bride et mors. L’attribut équestre et la figure de style” in La Vertu de tempérance entre Moyen Âge et âge classique edd. Ferretti et al. 319-30, esp. 324-7; Schrader & Hering, Biographisch-literarisches Lexicon der Thierärzte 601; Nissen, Zoologische Buchillustration 1344; Ilari, Scrittori militari italiani 328 & reprodd. 329-30; see Katalog der Lipperheideschen Kostümbibliothek Tc19 (1620 ed.); not in Wellcome or Krivatsy.
Price: $17,500.00