A General System of Horsemanship

£7,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

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 copperpla

• Binding: Hardcover

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