En busca del caballo árabe. Comisión á Oriente. Turquia. - Siria. - Mesopotamia. - Palestina.
Large 8vo. 297, (7) pp. With photographic illustrations in the text throughout and a lithographed map showing the sailing route in blue. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers.
$3,105.00
Rare first edition in Spanish, in the original publisher's paper wrappers, of this important work on Arabian horses, describing a voyage made in 1904 of a Spanish commission to Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine, to observe thoroughbred Arabian horses. The party returned to Spain with 33 Percherons, of which 27 were considered to be first-class horses. In the present work, the Spanish cavalry commander Luis Azpeitia de Moros describes their journey, their contact and negotiations with the people there, and the horses they bought. Azpeitia's account is lavishly illustrated with photographs, all with Spanish captions printed below, of not only the areas they visited and their inhabitants, but also of the several horse specimens they bought, with their name and place of purchase in the printed captions.
The present work was used as reference source by Gladys Brown Edwards in her work on the history of the Arabian horse (The Arabian: War Horse to Show Horse) (Boyd/Paul, p. 11); an English translation of the work appeared in 2001 (In Search of the Arabian Horse), and an Arabic one was published in Riyadh in 2007 (Al-Bahth `an al-husan al-`Arabi). Altogether the very rare first edition of an important work on Arabian horses, even more rare when offered with its original wrappers, as the present copy, which are illustrated with drawings of scenes of the voyage.
Wrappers a little browned and somewhat foxed (including the edges), spine slightly damaged (especially at the head) and partly cracked. Some very minor foxing throughout, but otherwise still in good condition. A very rare work on Arabian horses.