Hunting - Lot 244

Hunting MAGNÉ DE MAROLLES (Gervais François) Hunting with a rifle. Paris, Barrois et Duprat, 1836. In-8: XVI, 494pp. 1f. 10 copper-engraved plates hors texte (one plate of gunners' marks unencumbered on page 72, the rest in fine: numbers I to VII, a folding plan of the Pantière d'Igon and the plan of the pantière de Lanne drawn by SAINT-GUILY). Minor spotting in places. ½ contemporary brown calf, gilt title on lightened spine, light rubbing on boards. "Quite a few copies have only one of the 2 plans" reports Thiébaud, this one quite complete. The first version, "Essai sur la Chasse au Fusil", appeared in 1781. This book is not only the first French work devoted exclusively to shotguns and target shooting, but also the first hunting treatise to devote a major study to wildfowl" (80pp.). The supplement (published a little later than the original) is recast in this latest edition. Souhart recommends looking for this 1836 edition in preference to older ones. The chapter devoted to the Palombe occupies almost 50 pages, making it the earliest (and most important) treatise on hunting this bird. Provenance: Printed bookplate Jacques Dogny) (1895-1957) was the best Bordeaux horse show rider of his generation and founder of the famous Prix Equestre Bordelais.