⊕ Click main image below to view enlargements and captions.
Angling
Fox Hunting, viz; Uncoupling, & casting of ye Hounds
Shooting Flying
The End of ye Chase of ye Stagg
Unharbouring Ye Stagg
The Harborer with ye Blood Hound for harbouring the Stagg
Detail of The Harborer with ye Blood Hound for harbouring the Stagg
The Deere Fraying their Heads
Horsemanship Treats of Horses & their Kinds. Breeding. Uses. Keeping.
Detail of The Deere Fraying their Heads
Horse Raceing
Detail of Horse Raceing
The Manag'd Horse
Models for Sculpture
Detail of Models for Sculpture
Models for Painting
Models for Painting
Models for Painting
Ceres
Detail of Ceres, Roman Goddess of Agriculture
Flora
Pomona

Sporting Art, Horses, Hunting, Wrestling; Gentleman’s Recreations, Folio Engravings, Richard Blome, Antique Prints, 1710

$475

Richard Blome (1635-1705) (editor)
Sporting, Agriculture, Arts & Sciences Prints
from The Gentleman’s Recreations: in Three Parts
Richard Blome, London: c. 1710
Hand-colored copper plate engravings
13.5 x 8.25 inches plate mark, average approximate
16 x 10 inches, overall, average approximate
$475 EACH

A selection of 18th century sporting prints published as part The Gentleman’s Recreations, intended for the education and edification of the British country gentleman at the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. The entire set consists of three parts, the first being an introduction to the liberal arts and sciences, and the remainder of the book a guide to sporting and agriculture at the English Country house. The sporting subjects are the full gamut of British pastimes of the period including hunting (fox, fowl, stags, etc.), falconry, and fishing.

A number of the prints are dedicated to the arts of painting and sculpture, depicting classical male nudes in standing or action poses as one might find in ancient Greek or Roman art. The agriculture section was illustrated with allegorical prints of ancient Roman goddesses of agriculture: Ceres the Roman name for the Greek Demeter, goddess of agriculture; Flora, the goddess of flowers; and Pomona, a wood-nymph whose attributes are the cultivation of gardens, especially fruit-bearing plants. The goddesses are seated in the foreground of scenes set in the fields and gardens of the kind of British country estate where Blome’s prototypical gentleman resided. Many plates have engraved dedications in the lower margin to the aristocratic patrons who subscribed to the original publication.

For further information, page down to Product Description below.

 

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Description

Richard Blome was among the most active publishers of cartographic and illustrated books in late 17th and early 18th century London. He was the first publisher in England for 40 years to prepare a new folio world atlas, the first in over 60 years to publish a new set of folio county maps, the first to seriously plan an illustrated description of London, and the first to plan a series of volumes related to the various world continents. In the 1680s, Blome issued The Gentleman’s Recreation, The History of The Old Testament and a three-volume translation of the works of French philosopher Rene Descartes.

Full Title: The Gentleman’s Recreations: In Three Parts. The Full Part contains A Short and Easie Introduction to all the Liberal Arts and Sciences, &c. The Second treats of Horsemanship, Hawking, Hunting, Fowling, Fishing, Agriculture, &c. Done from the most Authentick Authors…The Third is A Compleat Body of all our Forest, Chace, and Game-Laws, as they are at this Time…

Condition: Generally very good, with the usual light toning, soiling, soft creases. Some with short tears and small chips at margin, all can be matted out. Some with remnants of hinges, top margin, verso.

References:

Baynton-Williams, Ashley. “Richard Blome.” Mapforum.com. Issue 9. http://www.mapforum.com/09/9blome.htm (3 June 2002).

“Bowater Vernon with Hanbury Hall and Its Formal Garden.” National Trust UK. http://www.ntprints.com/image.php?id=420688 (22 June 2010).

Harris, Andrew. “The Vernons of Hanbury Hall.” Dodderhill Parish Survey Project. 2007. http://www.dodderhillhistory.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=136 (22 June 2010).

Harting, James Edmund. Bibliotheca Accipitraria. A Catalogue of Books Ancient & Modern Relating to Falconry. 1891. Reprint ed. Mansfield Center, CT: Martino Publishing, 2000. pp. 30-31.

Schwerdt, Charles Francis George Richard. Hunting, Hawking, Shooting Illustrated in A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts, Prints, and Drawings Collected by C.G.F.R. Schwerdt. Vol 1. 1928-1937. Reprint ed. Mansfield Center, CT: Martino Publishing, 1996. p. 72.

Additional information

Century

18th Century

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