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SAUNIER, Jean und Gaspar de (1663-1748). La parfaite connoissance des chevaux, leur anatomie, leurs bonnes & mauvaises qualitez, leurs maladies & les remedes qui y conviennent ... pratiquée, continuée. & donnée au public par son fils Gaspar de Saunier. Den Haag, Adrien Moetjens, 1734. Folio (389 x 245 mm), [5] leaves (the first blank), 256 pages, [4] leaves of index, illustrated with 61 numbered plates (without the portrait), engraved by Creite, M. la Cave, and L. van Bleyswyck, as well as one large engraved armorial vignette and one engraved title vignette by and after D. Coster. Title printed in red and black. . Contemporary speckled calf, spine on seven raised bands, richly gilt in compartments , with a leather title label; somewhat rubbed, small tear and worming at lower front joint, lower cap and a corner somewhat worn.

A wide-margined and crisp copy of the first edition of this richly illustrated treatise on horses.

This is the only work published during Gaspard Saunier’s lifetime. It was subsequently translated into German as Vollständige Erkenntniss von Pferden (Glogau, 1767) and into English as Guide to the Perfect Knowledge of Horses (London, 1769).

Gaspard Saunier, son of Jean de Saunier, the veterinarian of the royal stables, was trained in the art of proper horse management by Bournonville and Duplessis. In 1688, he was appointed riding master (écuyer) at the court of Henri Jules de Bourbon-Condé, and two years later took charge of the Royal Stud Farm at Saint-Léger, near Montfort-l’Amaury, founded by Louis XIV, the Sun King. In the following years, Saunier served as riding master to the Comte de Montchevreuil and participated in several military campaigns. After the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), he entered the service of the Marquis de Courtanvaux, before eventually being appointed, like his father before him, to the Royal Stables.

In 1706, Saunier killed his opponent in a duel and fled to Cologne; from 1710, he lived in the Netherlands, where he founded a riding academy in Leiden, later directed by his pupil Godefroy Boyer. This copy is without the portrait frontispiece, which, however, is not included in the list of plates.

REFERENCES: Dejager 293; Mennessier de La Lance II, 489; Huth, 31; Brunet V, 149; Nissen 3592; Cohen/de Ricci 940; Lewin 497f.; Thomas Ritter, The Art of Riding. Classical Quotes Edition Nr. 30 (Online Version).

CHF 3 800