{"product_id":"f-breve-esposizione-di-alcuni-1827","title":"Breve esposizione di alcuni precetti sull'arte dell'equitazione da proporsi alle donne","description":"\u003cp\u003e1827 First Edition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 8vo. Pp. [1] f.e., VIII, 135, [1], VI plates, [1] r.e.\u003cbr\u003e\nMilano\u003cbr\u003e\nFelice Rusconi\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal publisher's wrappers, title within a woodcut border, repeated on the rear wrapper. Worn but intact. An untrimmed copy. Faint waterstain to the first and last leaves, barely noticeable. Very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of an early Italian manual on horsemanship addressed specifically to women. The author, signing only \"F., L.\" and declaring himself a cousin of the Milanese noblewoman Luigia Lecchi Greppi, takes Pons d'Hostun's \"Écuyer des Dames\" of 1806 as his model, gathering its precepts and adapting them for the instruction of women in a distinctly Milanese context.\u003cbr\u003e\nPublished in Milan in 1827, the work appeared at a curious moment in the city's history. Under Austrian administration, Milan was establishing itself as the economic and financial powerhouse of the Italian peninsula, while remaining a remarkably vivacious intellectual and cultural center. Open rebellion had been suppressed and political life was closely watched by the Austrian police, yet Milan's intellectual circles continued to sustain a spirit of resistance through literature, philosophy, and cultural exchange.\u003cbr\u003e\nThe model for the work, Louis-Henri de Pons d'Hostun, approached his female reader as a rider first and a lady second. The Milanese adaptation follows him closely, offering a precise repertory of his precepts while transferring them into the social and cultural world of Restoration Milan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book begins with the horse itself (its breeds, coats, and harness), then proceeds to mounting and dismounting for ladies, the walk, trot, and gallop, and finally to the manner of riding, again tailored specifically to the female rider. The author reduces good riding to three combined rules: \"il comodo, la sicurezza e la decenza\" (comfort, safety, and decency).\u003cbr\u003e\nGallo Gallina supplied the six lithographic plates after drawings by Pietro Sajler, illustrating the points of the horse, the construction of a woman's saddle, the various paces, and, finally, a woman correctly seated and mounted - the whole argument of the book condensed into a single image.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, women held the reins, literally. Delightful lithographs, practical wisdom, and \"comfort, safety and decency\": Enlightenment or not, a lady is still a lady.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Fenice Antiquaria","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49385894576363,"sku":"174-1827--1400.00-450.00-2026","price":237000.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0766\/2000\/5611\/files\/00174_IMG_0494.jpg?v=1788993192","url":"https:\/\/fenicebooks.com\/en-jp\/products\/f-breve-esposizione-di-alcuni-1827","provider":"La Fenice Antiquaria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}