Recopilación de los más famosos autores griegos y latinos que trataro[n] de la excele[n] cia y generació[n] de los cavallos. Y assimismo como se han de doctrinar y curar sus enfermedades. Y también de las mulas y su generación

Suarez, Alonso

1564. Toledo. Miguel Ferrer. Folio, (292 x 205 mm). 4 ff., CXCIII ff. (i.e. 188 ff., skips the collation of 65 to 68 and 147) 3 ff. Eighteenth century calf, flat spine, with red lettering, tooled in gilt, somewhat worn. Paper strip pasted on lower margin of title page to obscure what appears to be a contemporary signature and to add a -probably- 18th century ownership mark “Baldin de Riera[?]”, some occasional damp stains, a few repairs to index leaves, somewhat toned, generally very good.

First edition of this extremely rare Spanish compendium of various classical and modern sources on horses, aimed fundamentally at their veterinary and care; no copy has ever appeared on the market according to Rare Book Hub, and only a handful of copies in institutions worldwide. The Recopilación is divided in two parts, the first contains the work of Pietro Crecentino, which deals with the nature and diseases of horses, a fragment of Manuel Diaz´ early Spanish treatise on horses, and an anonymous work on the beauty of horses; the second part includes “De la medicina doctrina y generación de los cavallos de Absirto y de Hierocles y otros autores griegos que Joan Roelio tradujo del griego en latín” and the “Libro de Hippiatria o historia y medicina de cavallos de Laurencio Rusio”. 

 

The book is rare, and long thought to be amongst the first of its class in the Spanish language (in reality it is the Diez which is the first), in the 1950´s the Yale Gazette says “By one of those coincidences which make a librarian's life continually exciting, two volumes were presented to us on December 14, 1949, from widely different sources. Mrs. Samuel Milbank presented a copy of what is believed to be the first book in Spanish on the horse. The title page reads Recopilacio de los mas famosos autores Griegos y Latinos que trataro de la excelecia y generacio de los cauallos. The folio volume is by Alonso Suarez and was published in Toledo in 1564” (D. G. W. “HORSES.” The Yale University Library Gazette 24, no. 4 (1950): 182–182).

 

Chapters are:

Libro de Pedro Crecentino : en el qual se tracta de la naturaleza, generación, doctrina y enfermedades de los cavallos;

Prosiguese adelante De las mulas algunas cosas que son necessarias saber, sacadas del tractado que escrivio Manuel Díaz, y otros varones excelentes;

Libro del excelentissimo philosopho, y muy esperimentado capitan Xenophon : en el qual tracta del arte militar dela cavalleria y quales han de ser los cavallos y el buen cavallero para la guerra;

Libro segundo de la medicina, doctrina y generación de los cavallos de Absirto, Herocles;

Libro segundo de la medicina de cavallos de Absirto, Herocles;

Hippiatria o historia y medicina de cavallos de Laurencio Rusio.

 

Gothic type, illustrated with woodcuts in text.

 

Extremely rare, according to OCLC, we locate copies at the British Library, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and Universidad de Valencia, only two copies reside in the United States, at Yale and Michigan State University.

 

Provenance: private collection; offered with a Spanish export license.

 

Palau, 323185.

1564

$12,000.00