William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle | A general system of horsemanship, London, 1743, 2 vols in one

William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle

A general system of horsemanship in all it’s [sic] branches. London: J. Brindley, 1743

2 volumes bound in one, folio (445 x 305mm.), half-title, engraved additional title in French dated 1658, dedications with engraved headpiece, 42 double-page plates of horsemanship and exercises, 8 single-page plates of horses, some printed in bistre, 8 anatomical plates (2 double-page), 4 single-page plates of equipment, later half calf, engraved additional title worn and repaired with slight loss, plates 40 and 41 bound out of order at end, a bit worn and strengthened at margins

A HANDSOME LARGE-PAPER COPY OF THE FINEST BRITISH BOOK ON EQUITATION.

The first edition was published in Antwerp by Jacques van Meurs in 1657 under the title La methode et invention nouvelle de dresser les chevaux while the author was in exile. Volume 1 is an English translation of Newcastle's work; volume 2 is a translation of La parfaite connoissance des chevaux by Jean de Saunier. The engraved title in the present copy contains the original engraved title in French.

At Antwerp Newcastle set up a manege where he trained eight Barbary horses he had purchased in Paris. The Methode et invention contained Newcastle's exposition of the theory and practice of the art of manage and its illustrations by Diepenbeke are remarkable not only for their excellence, but for the number of portraits they contain. Numerous diagrams represent Newcastle training horses in his riding school and in the double-page plates he is depicted performing various feats of horsemanship before Welbeck, Bolsover or some other of his houses.

LITERATURE:

Nissen ZBI 849