Details
STRINGER, Arthur (b.c.1664). The Experienc'd Huntsman, or, a Collection of Observations upon the Nature of Chance of the Stagg ... Hare, Fox, Martem and Otter. Belfast: by James Blow, 1714. Small 8° (143 x 81mm). (Quires C-T apparently in facsimile, text shaved at the fore-margin of E7, one page-number shaved, lightly browned). 19th-century mottled calf (rebacked with original spine preserved), red cloth folding box. Provenance: Joseph Woodley (very faint signature on title, repeated on the following page and on the first page of text) -- C.F.G.R. Schwerdt (bookplate; and a 2pp. A.L.S, Dublin, 17 January 1929, from the bookseller, Peter Ennis, informing Schwerdt that he is attempting to locate a copy of the book; Schwerdt sale, 11 March 1946, lot 2024).
Despite being heralded as a copy of the rare first edition since 1929 when Schwerdt acquired the book, the present copy appears - very curiously - to consist of the first two and last quire of the first edition and the remaining quires in very good facsimile. They are printed on low-grade, unmarked paper, completely different to that used for the first and last quires here and in copies at the British Library and Linen Hall Library, Belfast. The Experienc'd Huntsman is the first book to deal with hunting in an Irish context. Arthur Stringer was born c.1664 and became huntsman to Viscount Conway at Portmore, Co.Antrim. An exceptionally observant and accurate naturalist, he was among the first writers who believed that a pack of hounds should be specifically trained to hunt foxes and avoid other game, something many commentators claim to be a later innovation. A book from one of the earliest presses at Belfast where printing was introduced in 1697/98. ESTC locates 4 copies (BL, Cambridge University Library, Linen Hall Library, Belfast and Virginia, State Library). SCHWERDT COPY. Schwerdt IV, p.88: "Excessively rare".
Despite being heralded as a copy of the rare first edition since 1929 when Schwerdt acquired the book, the present copy appears - very curiously - to consist of the first two and last quire of the first edition and the remaining quires in very good facsimile. They are printed on low-grade, unmarked paper, completely different to that used for the first and last quires here and in copies at the British Library and Linen Hall Library, Belfast. The Experienc'd Huntsman is the first book to deal with hunting in an Irish context. Arthur Stringer was born c.1664 and became huntsman to Viscount Conway at Portmore, Co.Antrim. An exceptionally observant and accurate naturalist, he was among the first writers who believed that a pack of hounds should be specifically trained to hunt foxes and avoid other game, something many commentators claim to be a later innovation. A book from one of the earliest presses at Belfast where printing was introduced in 1697/98. ESTC locates 4 copies (BL, Cambridge University Library, Linen Hall Library, Belfast and Virginia, State Library). SCHWERDT COPY. Schwerdt IV, p.88: "Excessively rare".
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