THE ART OF FALCONRY: being the DE ARTE VENANDI CUM AVIBUS of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Translated and edited by Casey A. Wood and F. Marjorie Fyfe.

(1943) 1961 reprint. Large 4to (220 x 286mm). Ppcx,637. Colour frontispiece, photographs, illustrations. Green cloth, spine profusely decorated and titled in gilt.

"De Arte Venandi cum Avibus was written shortly before the year 1250 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, in whose court, with its remarkably cosmopolitan and highly intellectual life, may be found the real beginning of the Italian Renaissance. [This book] is far more than a dissertation on hunting. There is a lengthy introduction dealing with the anatomy of birds, an intensely interesting description of avian habits, and the excursions of migratory birds. ...This ancient book has long been recognised as the first zoological treatise written in the critical spirit of modern science." In addition to a well-informed translation of the original text (415pp), Wood and Fyfe have added much useful new material; a thirty-five page introductory essay; twenty-two pages on manuscripts and previous editions of this book; thirty-eight pages on the castles and hunting lodges of emperor Frederick II by Cresswell Shearer. 214 pages of appended material include articles on methods of capturing falcons, diseases and accidents to hawks, Frederick II's predecessors, birds of the chase and others familiar to the emperor, an annotated bibliography of ancient, medieval and modern falconry, as well as English-Latin, Latin-English glossary of ancient, medieval and modern falconry. Many photographs and illustrations of all descriptions.