The rarest treatise on falconry

Friedrich II von Hohenstaufen. Reliqua librorum Friderici II. Imperatoris, de arte venandi cum avibus, cum Manfredi Regis additionibus. Ex membranis vetustis nun primum edita. Albertus Magnus de falconibus, asturibus, & accipitribus.

€ 18,000.00

First edition, extremely rare. "The first edition of a classic on hawking, held to be the best and most comprehensive treatise, which, with original Italian and Latin manuscripts, has been the study and research by many writers" (Schwerdt). This classic treatise on ornithology and falconry was written by Frederick II (1194-1250), Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick's original manuscript is lost, but his work exists in two book versions, by his two sons Manfredi and Enzo. The most famous copy of this treatise is the manuscript commissioned by Manfredi, between 1258 and 1266, and contains twelve short additions made by himself. The present publication is the editio princeps of that version; the "1560 Venice" and "1578 Basel" editions mentioned by Lallemant, Souhart, etc. are spurious. The woodcut faithfully reproduces one of the miniatures in Manfredi's version (in the Vatican library): an expressive image of the Emperor with two falconers at his side. Also includes the treatise "De Falconibus Asturibus, & Accipitribus" (p. 357 ff.) by a German dominican philosopher and theologian Alberto Magno, written in Cologne between 1262 and 1280 and first time printed in Rome in 1478.