MARTINEZ DE ESPINAR Alonso Arte de ballesteria, y monteria, escrita con metodo, para escusar la fatiga, que ocasiona la ignorancia : dividida in tres libros.

Frank, II, 126-127 ; Schwerdt, II, p. 16 : “rare classic on Spanish hunting”; Souhart, 319-302; Palau, 154967 : “precioso libro”; Uhagon & Leguina, 239; Harting, 245; Maggs, Spanish Books, cat. 495, 1927, n° 583; Jeanson, 1286 (cat.) & 399 (auction Monaco, 1987).

Extremely rare first edition of this famous Spanish hunting book.

The work, written at a time when, as Schwerdt points out, the crossbow was gradually giving way to the musket, is divided into three parts. The first deals with different types of hunting, weapons and their maintenance, ammunition, horses, bloodhounds, etc. The second part examines animal behaviour, hunting techniques and the role of the wind. Finally, the third and last part, devoted entirely to game birds, contains fifteen additional chapters describing the different species of falcons.

The Arte de Ballestería y Montería is considered a veritable encyclopaedia of hunting, the fruit of more than forty years of service to the Spanish kings Philip III and Philip IV as an archer; it contains all the rules and precepts used in the practice of hunting.

Alonso Martínez de Espinar was a 17th-century Spanish courtier, crossbowman and writer. It is not known exactly where he was born – some sources claim it was in Madrid, where he was baptised; others mention the town of El Espinar, in the province of Segovia, from which his surname is thought to derive. His father, a native of Baza (Granada), was a crossbowman in the service of Philip II and Philip III; thanks to this position, the young Alonso became interested in the profession and entered the court, to which he remained connected for the rest of his life. Martínez de Espinar died in Madrid in 1682, at the age of 94, and was buried in the church of Nuestra Señora de la Almudena. It is worth mentioning, as an anecdote, that the friendship between the archer and Velázquez (1599-1660) led the Sevillian artist to immortalise him in one of his paintings, specifically in The Riding Lesson or Prince Baltasar Carlos at the Riding School, where Martínez de Espinar is depicted giving a lance to the Count-Duke of Olivares (1587-1645).

Martínez has gone down in history thanks to his work Arte de ballestería y montería, considered one of the most important texts on hunting in the Spanish Baroque period. The text, dedicated to Prince Baltasar Carlos (1629-1646), who died prematurely, and prefaced by Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645), was republished twice in the mid-18th century: the first time in Naples (Francisco Ricciardo, 1739), and the second in Madrid (Antonio Marín, 1761), with a preface by the 11th Duke of Medinaceli, Luis Antonio Fernández de Córdoba y Spínola (1704-1768).

“Dividida en tres libros. En el primero se declaran las definiciones de la Ballestería, Montería, Chuchería y Cetrería… En el segundo, se dicen las naturalezas de los animales. Como se ha de valer el ballestero de los vientos. El modo de echar el lazo a las reses; y como se han de concertar con el sabueso y sin él. En el tercero se declaran las calidades de las aves y el modo de cazarlas. Con dos capítulos curiosos al fin. El uno de la caza del perro de muestra. Y el otro, del cabastrillar con el buey”.

“On l. 204 is printed a list of names of former writers on this sport, some of which according to Harting (p. 128) are rarely quoted” (Schwerdt).

“This work of 420 pp., with portraits of Don Carlos and the author, and several full-page illustrations, contains (lib. iii. cap. i.) remarks “del Aguila y sus propriedades y de otras Aves de rapina,” with chapters on the following kinds of hawks Alcon Girifalte [the gerfalcon] …, Alcon Sacre [the Saker] …, Alcon Nebli [the Peregrine]…, Alcon Bahari [the Peregrine], Alcon Borni [some phase of Peregrine]…, Alcon Alfaneque [the Lanner]…, Alcon Tagarote [a Peregrine of some kind, probably Falco barbarus] …, Alcon Azor [the Goshawk] … Alcon Aleto [probably Falco babylonicus]…, Alcon Gavilan [the Sparrow-hawk] …, Alcon Esmerejon [the Merlin]…, Alcon Alcotan [the Hobby]… These extracts will serve to show the hawks known to falconers in Spain, and the Spanish names for them. Many of these names introduced by the Moors into Spain, and thence carried into France, are derived from the Arabic” (Harting).

Remarkable set of copper illustrations, both precise and elegant

This suite, engraved by Juan de Noort († Madrid, 1652), consists of an allegorical title with hunting emblems and portraits of Diana and Adonis, followed by a portrait of Prince Balthasar Carlos (son of Philip IV of Spain and Elizabeth of France), a portrait of the author, and five plates showing hunting scenes with muskets, pikes, and nets: deer, wild boar, hares, ducks, partridges, etc. The last plate, which is particularly curious, shows hunters taking cover behind an ox whose head is used as a support for the musket.

A fine copy of this scarce and valubale work; some spotting, a few quires toned.