Antiquarenbeurs Mechelen
Exhibitor
Florisatus Fine BooksPlein 19 C
2511 CS Den Haag
Netherlands
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Edwin & Liesbeth BloemsaatPhone
+31 (0) 614 270 027 +31 (0) 614 270 027Website
ilab.org/affiliate/florisatus-fine-books-manuscripts-musicalia
The most important treatise on unarmed combat ever printed
L'Académie de l'admirable art de la lutte, Montrant d'une manière très exacte non seulement la force extraordinaire de l'Homme, mais aussi les mouvements merveilleux, l'usage singulier, & les souplesses des principales parties ou membres du corps humain. Avec une instruction claire & familière, comment on peut en toutes les occasions repousser sûrement & adroitement toutes sortes d'Insultes & d'Attaques.
A Leide, Chez Isaac Severinus, [1712]. 4to (257 x 200 mm). 7 Leaves and 71 numbered plates in 13 sections.
With vignette on title and 71 plates after Romeyn de Hooghe. Title page printed in red and black.
Mottled calf. Gold tooled spine with 5 raised bands and red title label. In gold tooling on upper cover " Mr. LE PETIT". Marbled end leaves. Rare first and only French edition of an early manual of self-defence for gentlemen. The book was first published, in Dutch, in 1674, afer the death of the Amsterdam wrestling master Nicolaes Petter by his widow and his pupil Robbert Cors, who announced in the preface of that edition that he will continue the wrestling classes. According to Landwehr this French edition appeared in 1712.
Simon Schama writes in The embarrassment of riches that Cors (the pupil and successor of Petter, the manager of a fighting academy who was formally the author of this book) exploited citizen's anxieties, especially in Amsterdam, about their vulnerability to violent assaults in cities and on highways. The great engraver Romeyn de Hooghe depicts different persons and alternates their outfits. In some cases the fight is among equals, in others a gentleman takes on a more proletarian agressor.
In his The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe Sydney Anglo calls the earlier Dutch edition (Klare onderrichtinge) "the most important treatise on unarmed combat ever printed". Benesh calls this book a last apotheosis of the grand Baroque Spirit before its dissolution.
Old pen anotation on upper fly leaf: "Traité curieux et singulier, orné de Figures qui en sont le mérite principal". Old auction catalogue menttion and prices on lower fly leaf.
STCN 2 copies (Leiden & British Library)
-Provenance: 1) Supralibros: " Mr. LE PETIT"; 2) Bookseller's ticket: "Il polifilo Milano"; 3) Bought by the previous owner by Nico Israel in 1980.
-Literature: Anglo, The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe 190; Brunet III, 299 ('1712'); Gelli p. 536; Hollstein IX, 968-1038; Landwehr, Romeyn de Hooghe 39 (ed. 1712, not seen); Lipperheide 3036; Rahir 169 (ed. 1712); Thimm, A complete bibliography of Fencing and Duelling p.137; Lipperheide 3036.
-Condition: Spine ends damaged; upper joint partly split; Else a very desirable copy with strong impressions of the etchings.
With vignette on title and 71 plates after Romeyn de Hooghe. Title page printed in red and black.
Mottled calf. Gold tooled spine with 5 raised bands and red title label. In gold tooling on upper cover " Mr. LE PETIT". Marbled end leaves. Rare first and only French edition of an early manual of self-defence for gentlemen. The book was first published, in Dutch, in 1674, afer the death of the Amsterdam wrestling master Nicolaes Petter by his widow and his pupil Robbert Cors, who announced in the preface of that edition that he will continue the wrestling classes. According to Landwehr this French edition appeared in 1712.
Simon Schama writes in The embarrassment of riches that Cors (the pupil and successor of Petter, the manager of a fighting academy who was formally the author of this book) exploited citizen's anxieties, especially in Amsterdam, about their vulnerability to violent assaults in cities and on highways. The great engraver Romeyn de Hooghe depicts different persons and alternates their outfits. In some cases the fight is among equals, in others a gentleman takes on a more proletarian agressor.
In his The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe Sydney Anglo calls the earlier Dutch edition (Klare onderrichtinge) "the most important treatise on unarmed combat ever printed". Benesh calls this book a last apotheosis of the grand Baroque Spirit before its dissolution.
Old pen anotation on upper fly leaf: "Traité curieux et singulier, orné de Figures qui en sont le mérite principal". Old auction catalogue menttion and prices on lower fly leaf.
STCN 2 copies (Leiden & British Library)
-Provenance: 1) Supralibros: " Mr. LE PETIT"; 2) Bookseller's ticket: "Il polifilo Milano"; 3) Bought by the previous owner by Nico Israel in 1980.
-Literature: Anglo, The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe 190; Brunet III, 299 ('1712'); Gelli p. 536; Hollstein IX, 968-1038; Landwehr, Romeyn de Hooghe 39 (ed. 1712, not seen); Lipperheide 3036; Rahir 169 (ed. 1712); Thimm, A complete bibliography of Fencing and Duelling p.137; Lipperheide 3036.
-Condition: Spine ends damaged; upper joint partly split; Else a very desirable copy with strong impressions of the etchings.
€ 6.500
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