Origen y Dignidad de la Caça

Origen y Dignidad de la Caça – Vicent Garcia Editores – R/29683 – Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid, Spain)

Madrid (Spain) — 1634

More than a mere treatise on hunting by the Spanish King's greatest crossbowman: the history and usefulness of hunting as training for war

  1. The author of this work, a certain Juan Mateos, identifies himself as the King’s greatest crossbowman

  2. Printed in 1634 by Francisco Martínez (active 1627–45) in Madrid, it is dedicated to the Conde Duque de Olivares

  3. Three folded copperplates depicting hunting scenes, engraved initials, and other ornaments adorn Mateo’s text

Origen y Dignidad de la Caça

Facsimile Copy Available!
Price Category: €
(under 1,000€)
  1. Description
  2. Facsimile Editions (1)
Description
Origen y Dignidad de la Caça

Hunting was one of the most prominent and prestigious features of aristocratic life in the Middle Ages. Hunting served a practical purpose as practice for war because it required many of the same skills. Killing a wild boar at close range with a spear was the closest possible approximation to peacetime combat that could be imagined. Moreover, the aristocratic hunt was also a social event, and this became more true as time went on: women participated in hunts in the Late Middle Ages and were still doing so in the 17th century when this text was published.

Origen y Dignidad de la Caça

The author of this work, a certain Juan Mateos, identifies himself as the King’s greatest crossbowman, and is splendidly pictured on the architectural title page. He begins his treatise on the Origin and Dignity of Hunting by claiming that “The royal exercise of hunting was originated in order to defend men against the wild beasts and to protect their cattle, whose theft was the cause of their deaths” and “the dignity of this noble exercise is an activity for kings and princes, and the most prepared teacher who can best teach the military art, in both theory and practice”.
The work is dedicated to the Conde Duque de Olivares and was printed in 1634 by Francisco Martínez (active 1627-45) in Madrid. The text, printed in an elegant Roman script, is adorned by three folded copperplates depicting hunting scenes, engraved initials, and other ornaments. Antonio Sancho Dávila y Toledo, Marqués de Velada (1590–1666) said of the wonderful work: “The treatise is a teacher of real exercises, and is robust, useful for all, and not easy; in this lesson entertained with decorum and illustrated with assisted successes of incomparable majesty, the author deserves praise and the book deserves a printing license to communicate it…”

Codicology

Alternative Titles
Herkunft und Würde von Caça
Size / Format
280 pages / 21.0 × 15.0 cm
Origin
Spain
Date
1634
Style
Language
Illustrations
3 copper engravings and architectural title page, xylographic decorative initials
Content
Treatise on hunting
Artist / School

Available facsimile editions:
Origen y Dignidad de la Caça – Vicent Garcia Editores – R/29683 – Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid, Spain)
Vicent Garcia Editores – Valencia, 2008
Limited Edition: 3160 copies
Facsimile Editions

#1 Origen y Dignidad de la Caça

Vicent Garcia Editores – Valencia, 2008
Origen y Dignidad de la Caça – Vicent Garcia Editores – R/29683 – Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid, Spain)
Origen y Dignidad de la Caça – Vicent Garcia Editores – R/29683 – Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid, Spain) Photos with courtesy of the publisher

Publisher: Vicent Garcia Editores – Valencia, 2008
Limited Edition: 3160 copies
Binding: Parchment binding on wooden board; presented in a cloth-lined case with gold engraved leather spine
Facsimile Copy Available!
Price Category: €
(under 1,000€)
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