"The Noblest Conquest"
The Sport of the Horse in Europe and America
from the Edward Lasker Collection
February 7 - May 16, 2004
Library, West Hall
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The horse has been called “the noblest conquest man ever made” by French naturalist Le Comte de Buffon. For centuries the horse had a special partnership with man in work, war, and sport. This exhibition concentrates on the sport of the horse and the development of the Thoroughbred in England and America. The display begins with early printed books documenting the description, care, and training of the horse in 16th-century Europe.
The Thoroughbred, a breed created to race, originated in 18th-century England and was produced by breeding stallions—Arabians, Turks, and Barbs—with English mares. The formative years of the Thoroughbred in England and later America are highlighted with books, manuscripts, and illustrations showing some of the heroic horses, the founding institutions, and the colorful characters involved in racing.
The last sections of the exhibition are dedicated to famous 20th-century American horses and their owners and the Santa Anita Park race course in Arcadia, California, which opened in 1934.
This exhibition is drawn almost entirely from the Edward Lasker Collection at The Huntington Library.
SELECTIONS FROM THE EXHIBITION
Early European Books
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Master Loriner’s Catalog. Manuscript [Lombardi, Italy, c. 1560].
A loriner is a maker of bits and metal mountings for horse bridles. This master loriner’s catalog, with eighty elaborate drawings of bits done in sepia ink with a water color wash, is one of the earliest known promotional volumes of its kind. Some pages also have coats of arms and insignia of dukes, cardinals, and other noteworthy personages mostly from Italy. The catalog was probably used as a sales tool to attract new clients.
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Thomas Blundeville, The Fower Chiefyst Offices Belongying to Horsemanshippe. London: Wyllyam Seres, [1566].
This is the first comprehensive book on the horse in the English language. The four offices are identified as “The Office of the Breeder, Of the Rider, Of the Keper, and of the Ferrer [one treating diseases].” The chapter on riding was adapted from Federico Grisone’s seminal work on horsemanship Gli Ordini de Cavalcare. Shown here is the chapter title on “The Arte of Rydynge”.
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Carlo Ruini, Dell’ Anatomia et dell’ Infirmata del Cavallo. Bologna: Heirs of Giovanni Rossi, 1598.
This is the first edition of the first book devoted exclusively to the anatomy of the horse and is a landmark in veterinary science. The sixty-four full-page woodcuts trace both the anatomy and physiology of the horse. Ruini’s book became a model for subsequent zoological works.
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Filippo Scaccho, Opera di Mescalzia. Rome: Paolo Blado, 1591.
Farriery is the art of shoeing horses or treating the diseases of horses. "Farriers" or books written on the care of horses and how to cure ailments, first appeared in the 16th century and were indispensable for centuries thereafter. The first illustrated farrier was this one by Scaccho.
The English Thoroughbred
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William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, A General System of Horsemanship in all its Branches. London: Printed for J. Brindley, 1743. Two volumes.
The haute école of formal riding, whose careful training and precise movements are called dressage, became fashionable in the European courts of the 17th and 18th centuries. The two most important books on the subject were Antoine de Pluvinel’s L’Instruction du Roy (1625) and Newcastle’s Méthode Nouvelle et Invention Extraordinaire de Dresser les Chevaux (1657). Newcastle, an English Royalist general and accomplished horseman exiled in Antwerp, dedicated his book to Charles II. The 18th-century English edition on exhibit used the original French plates which demonstrate the various airs or movements.
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George Stubbs, "Gimcrack held by a groom." Hand-colored engraving from the Tattersall Collection of race horse portraits, [London, c.1720-1840]. Gift of Dr. Charles Strub. Stubbs (1724-1806), through careful study of equine anatomy, was able to master the art of painting horses. This print was made after a 1770 painting of the ten-year old grey stallion Gimcrack, a grandson of the Godolphin Arabian. Gimcrack became the first British horse to win a match race in France, where he ran a grueling twenty-two miles in one hour. The Tattersall Collection of five hundred horse prints, mostly mounted in scrapbook fashion, includes illustrations, pedigrees, and performances of England's first Thoroughbreds. These scrapbooks were begun by Richard Tattersall (1724-1795), founder of the horse auction mart in 1766 and owner of the famous race horse Highflyer. Other family members added to them.
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Charles Vial de Sainbel, An Essay on the Proportions of Eclipse. London: Martin and Bain, 1795. Vial de Sainbel, Professor of the Royal Veterinary School at Lyons, dissected Eclipse after his death in 1789 to find out "the mechanical causes which conspire to augment the velocity of the gallop." He felt that he could determine what gives a race horse speed and whether a breed is advancing or degenerating. Eclipse (foaled in 1764) was a big horse for the time standing fifteen hands and three inches to the withers (sixty-three inches). He was never beaten and is considered one of the great race horses of all time.
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Henry Alken, Qualified Horses and Unqualified Riders. London: S. & J. Fuller, 1815. Sporting books, magazines, and illustrative art proliferated in Great Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Alken (1784-1851), one of the most successful artists of the era, produced humorous series like this suite of seven plates. This print is entitled, "How to Stop Your Horse."
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James Roberts, The Sportsman's Pocket Companion: or Portraitures, Pedigrees and Performances of the Most Eminent Race Horses & Stallions… London: J. Barker, [1820]. This little book first published in 1760 consists of forty illustrations of famous 18th-century Thoroughbreds. Plate 40 shows the Earl of Godolphin's Arabian (foaled in 1724), one of the three male progenitors of the Thoroughbred. The other two imported stallions, from which all Thoroughbreds descend, are Captain Byerly's Turk, taken as a spoil of war in 1686-7, and Thomas Darley's Arabian, purchased in Aleppo when he was British Consul.
The American Thoroughbred
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“William Ransom Johnson” and “Boston.” Engravings published by Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage. [Engravings done c. 1840-50].
Johnson (1782-1849) played a bigger role in the development of the Thoroughbred in America than any other individual. Born in North Carolina, he bred and raced horses in Virginia and became “The Napoleon of the Turf” after his horses won sixty-one of sixty-three races in 1807-1808. He was involved in many North-South contests including the spectacular 1842 match between the swift and pugnacious stallion Boston (won in a card game of the same name) and Fashion, the North’s champion mare. Fashion won the four-mile race in a record time of 7:32 ½. Spirit of the Times (1831-1902) was the best sporting magazine of the 19th century and gave lively reports on turf events.
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William Woodward, Gallant Fox: A Memoir. New York: Privately Printed, 1931. Photograph of Gallant Fox shown. William Woodward, owner of Belair Stud in Maryland and Chairman of the Jockey Club in the United States, bred and raced one of the sensational Thoroughbreds of the 20th-century-Gallant Fox. Winner of the Triple Crown in 1930, Gallant Fox was the first American Thoroughbred recognized as the world's leading money winner. He also sired the 1935 Triple-Crown winner Omaha. This book is Woodward's loving memorial to Gallant Fox's 1930 achievement.
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Playing cards showing scenes at Santa Anita Rancho and its owner "Lucky" Baldwin. San Francisco: Alverson Comstock, c. 1895. In 1873 Elias Jackson Baldwin established the Santa Anita Rancho on a vast piece of land in the San Gabriel Valley. On this ranch he bred cattle, Arabians, and Thoroughbreds. His most successful race horse was Emperor of Norfolk (foaled in 1885), who won 21 of 29 races including the American Derby. Baldwin's ranch and the involvement of his daughter Anita in racing after his death in 1909 led directly to the founding of Santa Anita Park in 1934.
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Photograph of Red Pollard on Seabiscuit at Santa Anita Park Race Track. 1940. The most beloved Thoroughbred to compete in California was undoubtedly Seabiscuit. He was small and slight of build and only won his maiden race on his eighteenth career start. He was purchased by Charles Howard and became a sensation in 1937, winning eleven of fifteen starts, including seven handicaps. His two most unforgettable races were the match at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, where he beat War Admiral by four lengths, and the closing race in his career--the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap, where he set a track record of 2:01 for 1 ¼ miles. The Pimlico Trophy on loan from the California Thoroughbred Foundation is on display in the exhibit.
Alan Jutzi
Avery Chief Curator of Rare Books
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Huntington Corporate Partner Monticule, LLC, and the Robert F. Erburu Library Exhibition Endowment.