HANDSOME TYPE-FACSIMILE OF COX’S 17TH-CENTURY TREATISE ON HUNTING, WITH SUPERB FOLDING PLATE OF NOTATIONS FOR THE HUNTING HORN

COX, Nicholas. The Gentleman’s Recreation. With a Preface by E.D. Cuming. London: The Cresset Press, 1928. Square octavo, original full yap-edged limp vellum, top edge gilt, uncut, original slipcase. $600.

Fine limited Cresset Press facsimile edition, number VIII of only 50 copies bound in vellum (of a total edition of 650), of this popular 17th-century treatise on hunting, with illustrated title page and wonderful folding chart of specific notations to be sounded on the hunting horn.

Cox drew upon a number of classic works for his Gentleman’s Recreation, including Markham’s Art of Fowling, Latham’s Falconry and Turberville’s Noble Art of Venerie. Topics include “Hunter’s Terms,” “Of Dogs,” separate chapters on “hunting the Stately Stag, the Generous Buck, the Wild Boar, the Cunning Otter, the Crafty Fox, and the Fearful Hare,” and “Dogs Diseases Remedied.” “The first edition [of 1674] has become rare and the five subsequent editions are seldom met with in perfect state” (Westwood & Satchell). This handsome 1928 type-facsimile of Cox’s first edition was produced at the Cresset Press. Founded in 1927 by Dennis M. Cohen and A.I. Myers, whose stated purpose for the Press was “to preserve the highest standards in book-production… [and] to reprint in attractive format certain of the classics now difficult to obtain.” Ransom, Cresset 9. See Westwood & Satchell, 67.

A fine copy, original slipcase slightly worn.