![[ASTLEY, John (c.1507-1596).] The Art of Riding set forth in a breefe treatise. London: Henry Denham, 1584. Woodcut upper border to title. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Paper flaw on B1.) FIRST EDITION. Huth p. 11; Mellon/Podeschi 12; STC 884.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2006/CKS/2006_CKS_07300_0505_000(113236).jpg?w=1)
Details
[ASTLEY, John (c.1507-1596).] The Art of Riding set forth in a breefe treatise. London: Henry Denham, 1584. Woodcut upper border to title. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Paper flaw on B1.) FIRST EDITION. Huth p. 11; Mellon/Podeschi 12; STC 884.
CORTE, Claudio. The Art of Riding, translated by Thomas Bedingfield. London: Henry Denham, 1584. Woodcut upper border to title. Woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 full-page. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Marginal worming on quires L-P, occasionally touching sidenotes and affecting text on last 2 leaves.) FIRST EDITION. Huth p. 9; Mellon/Podeschi 11; STC 5797.
2 works in one volume, 4° (198 x 142mm). (Occasional light spotting and marking.) Contemporary limp vellum, leather lettering-piece (some cockling and general wear, tear to front free endpaper), 20th-century cloth box. Provenance: early manuscript notes on front free endpaper -- 18th-century manuscript shelfmarks on title and pastedown [possibly of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, vide infra, and by descent to:] -- William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943, bookplate, by descent to:) -- William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910-1948; his sale, Sotheby's, 1 March 1948, lot 20).
FIRST EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS. THE FITZWILLIAM COPIES. The publication of Astley's The Art of Riding, perhaps his single most lasting achievement, came late in his life as an Elizabethan courtier. One of the earliest English treatises on horsemanship, it was derived in part from Xenophon, Federico Grisone's Ordini di cavalcare, and other authors, and in part from Astley's own experience. The second work, The Art of Riding, is an edited translation of Corte's Il Cavallerizzo, 'translated ... under John Astley' according to Huth, and first published in Venice in 1562. Although distinct in collation, it is possible that the two works were originally issued together, as here. Published by Denham in the same year, and both initiated by Henry Mackwilliam (see the dedications), they are clearly complementary to each other. However, their scarcity at auction varies markedly; ABPC records some 5 copies of Corte's work at auction since 1975, but none of Astley's. The 18th-century shelfmarks suggest that these copies may have been acquired by the Whig Prime Minister Rockingham, one of the foremost patrons of racing in the 18th century.
CORTE, Claudio. The Art of Riding, translated by Thomas Bedingfield. London: Henry Denham, 1584. Woodcut upper border to title. Woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 full-page. Woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. (Marginal worming on quires L-P, occasionally touching sidenotes and affecting text on last 2 leaves.) FIRST EDITION. Huth p. 9; Mellon/Podeschi 11; STC 5797.
2 works in one volume, 4° (198 x 142mm). (Occasional light spotting and marking.) Contemporary limp vellum, leather lettering-piece (some cockling and general wear, tear to front free endpaper), 20th-century cloth box. Provenance: early manuscript notes on front free endpaper -- 18th-century manuscript shelfmarks on title and pastedown [possibly of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, vide infra, and by descent to:] -- William Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam (1872-1943, bookplate, by descent to:) -- William Henry Lawrence Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910-1948; his sale, Sotheby's, 1 March 1948, lot 20).
FIRST EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS. THE FITZWILLIAM COPIES. The publication of Astley's The Art of Riding, perhaps his single most lasting achievement, came late in his life as an Elizabethan courtier. One of the earliest English treatises on horsemanship, it was derived in part from Xenophon, Federico Grisone's Ordini di cavalcare, and other authors, and in part from Astley's own experience. The second work, The Art of Riding, is an edited translation of Corte's Il Cavallerizzo, 'translated ... under John Astley' according to Huth, and first published in Venice in 1562. Although distinct in collation, it is possible that the two works were originally issued together, as here. Published by Denham in the same year, and both initiated by Henry Mackwilliam (see the dedications), they are clearly complementary to each other. However, their scarcity at auction varies markedly; ABPC records some 5 copies of Corte's work at auction since 1975, but none of Astley's. The 18th-century shelfmarks suggest that these copies may have been acquired by the Whig Prime Minister Rockingham, one of the foremost patrons of racing in the 18th century.
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.