Elemens de Cavalerie - The Brands in German Horse Breeding Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere, Ecuyer du Roi. Nouvelle Edition, Paris, Compagnie des Librairies, 1754. Three parts in 2 volumes – this is Volume One only, which includes the first and second parts of this work. French language, 328 pgs. Original calf binding mottled, one spot front board, one spot back board, spine gilt decorated. One tip worn through, lower joints started with some chips in this area of spine cover, but all calf is well attached and tight, as is the binding. Title page has a signature in ink lower left corner. Marble endpapers, one folding plate of the points of the horses on laid paper. Ribbon marker present and intact. Overall a very nice copy! The first part includes a discussion of the conformation points of the horse, his beauties and defects, age (the teeth), color, horse of different countries, bits, shoeing, the saddle, maintenance (diet), grooming, and the stud farm, its terrain, choice of the stallions and the mare. The second part is concerned with dressage: terms, movements, the different temperaments and characters of horses, posture of the rider, the aids, school and High School movements, airs above ground, and the horse of war, the hunt and the carriage horse. Of this work the bibliographer Mennessier has this to say: “ Elemens de Cavalerie is a kind of horse encyclopedia containing all that a man of horses must know, and is not just a literal extract of École de Cavalerie. The treatise on the Stud Farm is a compilation of various authors. The exterior, dressage and horsemanship are the personal work of Gueriniere. Certain principles of conformation are good to remember, but it is as a rider that the author is justified in his enduring glory and which merits him the title of the Father of French Horsemanship.” There appears to be no other copies of this work in any edition on the market at this time.