A General System of Horsemanship

Newcastle's work is one of the most attractive books on horsemanship with splendid engraved plates.

William Cavendish (1592-1676), a staunch Royalist, was raised to the Dukedom of Newcastle (hence the omission of that title on the title of the work) at the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. The archetypal Stuart courtier and aristocrat, the very wealthy and landed Cavendish was a poet, scholar, diplomat, soldier, architect and a famous and accomplished horseman, responsible for example for the King's training. Living in exile in Europe and with his English estates confiscated as a result of the English Civil War, he first published the present work in Antwerp, where his riding school attracted students from all over the continent. His equestrian skill was famous throughout Europe, and Ben Jonson celebrated it in The Underwood (epigram LIII.

The illustrations by Abraham van Diepenbeke - Rubens' pupil - are remarkable not only for their excellence, but for the number of portraits they contain. Numerous diagrams represent Cavendish himself and his assistant Captain Mazin training horses in his riding school. In the large plates he is performing various feats of horsemanship before Welbeck, Bolsover and some other of his houses. There are also two striking allegorical designs, in which he is adored by a circle of reverential horses.

Cavendish's lavishly illustrated book cost in excess of £1300, a fabulous sum at the time. The publisher J. Brindley, acquired the original copperplates for the engravings in the original French edition printed in 1658 at Antwerp. After bringing out an edition in French in 1737 he published the English language edition for the first time in 1743. It contains the first printing of Newcastle's original English text, perfected by the author. Volume II is mainly occupied by The Perfect Knowledge of Horses, being the English edition of Gaspard de Saumier's work Le Parfaite Connaissance des Chevaux, published originally in 1734. The engraved chapter-heads are copied from Parrocel's engravings in La Guérinière's Êcole de Cavalerie. The anatomical plates in volume II are copied from Snape's The Anatomy of the Horse.

First English edition. 2 volumes bound in one, folio (44.5 x 30.5 cm.), half-title, engraved additional title in French [with the imprint of Jacques van Meurs, Antwerp: 1658], laid down with repairs and minor loss to lower margin just into image, dedications with engraved headpiece, 42 double-page plates of horsemanship and exercises; the second volume with 8 single-page plates of horses, some printed in bistre, 8 anatomical plates (2 double-page), 4 single-page plates of equipment. Plates 40 and 41 bound at end of volume, strengthened at margins and a bit worn, final leaf a little soiled, the book generally lightly toned, twentieth century half calf, marbled boards, tan morocco lettering piece.

Mennessier de la Lance II, page 248; Mellon/Podeschi 49; Nissen ZBI 849. This edition not in Dejaeger but see pp 308-325 for other eds.