The Reign of the Horse: the Horse in Print, 1500-1715

Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, first edition, 1991. Printed wrappers, oblong 4to, 22 x 28 cm,. 64 pp, ills, erratum slip laid in. From the introduction: "Our ancestors, and some of us, have trained and treated horses; drawn, painted, and sculpted bosses; written lyrically about horses; enjoyed horses as companions, labor-saving devices, forms of entertainment and sport, sources of food, clothing, and shelter. The horse figures prominently in what Carl Jung called the "collective unconscious," and has for centuries played a central role in festivity and ritual. Early modern Europe was not singular in its attention to horses and horsemanship, but as in other aspects of the arts and sciences, it made major innovations in all the areas mentioned above. These can now be fully appreciated for the first time as a result of the scholarship of Elizabeth Niemyet; Louis B. Thalheimer Curator of Acquisitions, who assembled this exhibition out of the Folger's remarkable collection of equestrian literature from the 16th and 17th centuries. Very Good.