A SELECTION OF RARE VETERINARY BOOKS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN LIBRARY SYSTEM

Why would the WVMA want to have a rare veterinary exhibit at the 100th Anniversary of the WVMA?

The veterinary profession is the only medical profession that can state for a fact the exact date when they became a profession, in1761. That is when Claude Bourgelat founded the first veterinary school in Lyon, France. Every veterinarian should at least know that part of our veterinary medical history.

We have 28 veterinary medical schools in the United States, only five offer a veterinary medical history course in their professional curriculum. They are at Cornell Univ., ISU, MSU, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

The University of Wisconsin Library System had received over 2600 veterinary texts, journals and periodicals, September of 2013 from a veterinary museum which closed their doors in October, 2012. In this collection, over 300 rare veterinary books were included.

So why is that important for the 100th Anniversary?

We have the opportunity at the 100th Anniversary to have an exclusive exhibit of a selection of these rare books. No other veterinary convention has ever had an exhibit like this, especially because of the value of these rare books.

Under the restrictive measures at the university to visit the rare book section and view any of these rare books, will be very difficult. It is my opinion that NOT one of the WVMA members will EVER have another opportunity to view these rare historical books, in their lifetime.

The following are just a few of these rare books in the University of WisconsinLibrary System. By the way, the officials in the Library System are delighted to have this collection on the UW-Madison campus and are willing to share them at our 100th Anniversary of the WVMA in October 2015.

Ordini Di Cavalcare 1551

Oldest book in the collection Estimate value: $3600.00

Andrea Muschio,, Venice, 2 parts in 1 volunm. 4to. Contemporary sheepskin. With woodcut vignette on title, 2 woodcuts in text, 50 full-page woodcuts showing the different kinds of bites and harnesses in the first part and woodcut vignette on title and a full-page woodcut of a horse, detailing the areas where signs of illness can be seen in the second part. Famous and enormously influential Italian work on horsemanship. Federico Grisone was a master horseman from Naples. The fine reputation of the riding Academy of Naples was due to the service of Grisone. He worked primarily with war horses, and his training methods involved heavy curb bits and cruel punishments. The first part deals with the nature of horses, their vices, rules for breeding, veterinary advice, their use and aid in war, and of the pleasure they bring human beings. The second part deals with the anatomy of horses, their indispositions and cures, surgery and its effects.

Markham’s Maister-Peece 1662

MARKHAM, Gervase. Markham’s Maister-Peece. Containing all Knowledge belonging to Smith, Farrier, or Horse-Leech, touching the Curing of all Diseases in Horses. London: William Wilson, 1662. Square octavo, contemporary full blind-tooled brown speckled calf rebacked, red morocco spine label, raised bands. Important 1662 edition, revised and enlarged by Markham, the recognized turn-of-the-16th-century authority on horses, horsemanship and equine care, with wonderful engraved title page containing ten vignettes of horses, along with two folding and three full-page woodcut engravings.One of England’s most prolific early writers on animal husbandry and sporting pastimes, and champion of “improved methods of horse-breeding and of horse-racing” I know to be certain and most approved.”.

The Anatomy of the Horseby George Stubbs

Only 150 copies of this famous book were printed. Latest value by a Austrian book dealer for just under $25,000, according to Michael North, Rare Book Curator at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. (Sept. 2014)

Published in London, England, AD 1766The famous painter of animals establishes his credentialsThis engraving is a plate from George Stubb's The Anatomy of the Horse. It was the first anatomical study of the horse since Carlo Ruini's Dell Anatomia et dell' Infirmita del Cavallo (1598) published over 160 years previously. Stubbs' engravings were far more precise and detailed than Ruini's schematic woodcuts.Stubbs was both scientist and artist. He dissected the horse himself, with the aid of Mary Spencer, his partner, in an isolated Lincolnshire farmhouse. As he stripped away the muscles, he made detailed drawings of what he saw. Then, in London, he showed the drawings to engravers experienced in anatomical subjects. They found them difficult to interpret, so Stubbs decided to make the engravings himself. The difficulty that he faced was to show clearly the different textures of vein, muscle and bone using a medium that is essentially 'linear'. He succeeded so well that for over a century the book was the principal guide for veterinarians as well as painters. It also shows the incredible knowledge of his subject that stands at the core of his practice as a painter.

Elemens de L’Art Veterinarie 1767 by Claude Bourgelat

This is one of the many books that were used in the first ten years at Ecole Nationale Veterinarire de Lyon. The only textbooks that were used in these classes were the ones that Bourgelat himself had written on the subjects. All of the students were required to know, verbatim, the complete text from these books from beginning to end.

Students were required to practice horseshoeing and the use of the forge. The instruction in making of horseshoes and farriery work was conducted by a “chief,” who was an upperclassman.