VETERINARY ART. HIPPOLOGY. RIDING. BLACK FRAME. REVERCHON (J - Lot 232

VETERINARY ART. HIPPOLOGY. RIDING. BLACK FRAME. REVERCHON (Jean Claude Hector). Anatomy of the horse. Osteology and myology. A Paris, chez Mme Huzard, 1825. Large folio, [36] uncounted ff. including title, frontispiece and 17 lithographs in black with occasional red highlights. Contemporary green half basane, smooth flowered spine, gilt title. Extremely rare first edition of this work on horse anatomy, with superb plates. With title page, frontispiece and 17 large plates containing 34 lithographed figures by Henri Adolphe Brunet, each accompanied by a printed sheet of explanatory text (except for the 9th plate, as indicated by Mennessier de la Lance). These plates illustrate the proportions, bone structure and muscles of the various parts of the horse, with the muscles highlighted by pinkish coloring on certain representations (as Mennessier specifies). Jean Claude Hector Reverchon (1796-1851) was a French painter who taught drawing at the École rurale et vétérinaire in Lyon from 1819 to 1836. The work is dedicated to the Dauphin, Louis de France, son of Charles X and founder of the Chair of Drawing at the French Veterinary Schools. Enriched copy: -Two handwritten leaves, apparently in the same hand as the ex libris, most certainly notes taken from the Captain's work. - Drawings on tracing paper, oblong format: studies of horsemen in uniforms, in ink, very well executed, seeming to represent riding and dressage exercises, reminiscent of the Saumur Cavalry School. Provenance: Ex libris in pen on title page signed "Motte / Capitaine Instructeur du 1er Cuirassier" (cavalry regiment created during the Revolution). Mennessier de La Lance, II, p. 414. Nissen, ZBI 3380. Binding rubbed with minor restorations, a trace of moisture at the upper corner on a few quires, marginal defects including a small tear not serious to plate 8.