DU FOUILLOUX, Jacques. La Vénerie. Paris: Abel l'Angelier, 1606. [With:] FRANCHIÈRES, Jean de. La Fauconnerie. Paris: Abel l'Angelier, 1607.
2 works in one volume, 4° (215 x 155mm). Titles printed in red and black. Woodcut title vignettes, and 101 woodcuts, 4 of these full-page, engraved headpieces and initials. (Title and a few leaves repaired in the inner margin, occasional mostly marginal dampstains.) Near contemporary vellum, arms and date ('1643') gilt stamped on sides, spine titled in manuscript, edges blue (front hinge neatly repaired, light wear). Provenance: an early reader (marginalia) -- 'R.S.F.--F.V.T.' (binding) -- Royal Library of Munich (title-stamp) -- Count A. Polovstoff (bookplate, case-label; see cat. Paris, 1910, I, no. 492) -- Baron de Bullet (sale note) -- C.F.G.R. Schwerdt (bookplate) -- Emile Hébert (sold to him by Thiébeaud; sale note).
THE SCHWERDT COPY OF DU FOUILLOUX'S CLASSIC OF HUNTING LITERATURE, bound with Franchières's excellent treatise on hawking. The importance of Du Fouilloux's La Vénerie can hardly be overstated. It was the first major work on the subject since Gaston Phébus's Livre de chasse, written in the late 14th century, and it remained pre-eminent for two hundred years. This edition of La Vénerie uses the famed woodcuts from De Marnesz's editions, and follows the text edited by 'I.D.S.' (generally thought to be Du Fouilloux's friend Jean de Sansicquet), which added Jean de Clamorgan's 'De la Chasse du loup', Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault's 'La Chasse du conil', and Francesco Carcano's chapter on canine medicine 'Les Remèdes très-utiles et nécessaires pour la maladie des chiens'. AN EXCELLENT COPY WITH SUPERB PROVENANCE. Jeanson 1432; Thiébeaud 304 and 429; Schwerdt I, 153 and 184.