HORSE CARE
[Real Maestranza de Granada]: Estatutos, y ordenanzas de la Real Maestranza de la ciudad de Granada, tomando por patrona a Maria Santissima en el mysterio de su purissima conception, erigida bajo la real proteccion del Rey N.tro S.or (Que dios guarde) y logrando el honor de tener por hermano mayor al serenissimo señor don Phelipe, infante de España, duque de Parma, Plasencia, y Guastála, &c. Madrid. Por Joachim Ibarra, calle de la Urosas. 1764.
Rare state, in contemporary tree calf binding, of the only contemporary edition of the statutes for the Real Maestranza of Granada (the Royal Cavalry Armory of Granada). The text is attractively presented with an engraved frontispiece, and includes articles relating to the obligations of farriers (p. 99) and the breeding of horses (p. 126).
Founded in 1686, the Real Maestranza of Granada followed the model set by the Real Maestranza of Seville in aiming to promote equestrianism among the nobility. Members had to own their own horse and were obligated to practice at regular sessions at the riding arena as well as to attend the festival of their patron saint. They had a significant civic presence in Granada (see Franco Rubio 2006).
Until 1764, when this edition of their own statutes was published, the Real Maestranza of Granada had used the ordinances of the Maestranza of Seville as their model. The present edition survives in several states, with ours being the longest at 160 pages (versions with 151 and 156 pages are also recorded). Our version would appear to be very scarce: the only comparable examples we have been able to find are modern facsimile editions, based on a 160-page copy or copies unknown to us (see below).
The title page is interesting from a typographical perspective: twice, the letter Ñ has been ‘kludged’, to borrow James Misson’s terminology to describe improvised printing techniques (2023). Here, the letter was created by combining an N with a smaller S rotated 90 degrees.
Details
Printed. One volume, 22.8 x 15.7 cms in binding, quarto, pp. 160 + frontispiece (Thom Lopez sculpt Madrid 1764). Collation: A-V4. Engraved headpiece (Ballester fct) and one decorative initial to p. 3. Ownership inscription to verso of frontispiece (Juan Cervilla). Modern pencil notes to endpapers. Bound in tree calf over boards, gilt ornamentation to flat spine, remnants of a gold-tooled green label to spine, marbled endpapers, red edges. Old stab stitch holes in gutter.
Condition (textblock): light browning, some foxing and staining. Condition (binding): leather rubbed and delaminating, small rectangle of surface deterioration to upper cover (caused by label removal?), but an attractive example of this binding style nonetheless.
Bibliography:
Cf. CCPB000221100-9 with pp. 156 and a collation of A-S4 T2 V4. We note also OCLC accession no. 559975981, which reportedly has pp. 151. There are facsimile editions matching our pagination from 1986 and 2005 (cf. review below). Palau 83613 (state with 156pp). Ruiz Lasala, Inocencio, Joaquin Ibarra y Marin (1725-1785) (Zaragoza 1968), no. 0156 (state with pp. 156).
OCLC records no copies with our pagination and collation, though the existence of the facsimiles suggests that at least one institutional copy is extant (perhaps in the BNF, for which no pagination is listed). Outside mainland Europe, OCLC shows copies of other states at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, University of Maryland, and Northwestern University.
Franco Rubio, Gloria A., ‘[Review]: Estatutos y Ordenanzas de la Real Maestranza de la Ciudad de Granada. Granada. Estudio preliminar de Inmaculada Arias de Saavedra Alías, Granada, Universidad, 2005, 160 páginas’, Chronica Nova, 32, 2006, 303-305.
Misson, James, ‘Kludging Type: Some Workarounds in Early English Print’, in Geri Della Rocca de Candal, Anthony Grafton, and Paolo Sachet (eds.), A Companion to Mistakes and In-House Corrections in Renaissance Europe (1450-1650) (Oxford: OUP, 2023), pp. 70-79.