Harting James E. Bibliotheca Accipitraria. A catalogue of books ancient and modern relating to Falconry, with notes, glossary and vocabulary

London: Bernard Quaritch, 1891. — 341 p.Falconry, like other field sports, has its literature. It would be strange if it were not so; for on turning over the pages of the world's history, it is apparent that for centuries it has played a conspicuous part amongst the diversions of people of all nations.
But the literature of the subject has been much neglected. The older treatises in all languages have become scarce and costly, and of the rest the booksellers are unable to supply, or even to name, a tithe of them. This, perhaps, is partly due to the circumstance that no Bibliography of Falconry, having any claim to completeness, exists. It cannot be said that no such work has been attempted; for in 1853 the late Professor Schlegel, of Leyden, appended to his splendid Traite de Fauconnerie a Catalogue Raisonne of such books on the subject as were known to him; while since that date has appeared the Bibliographie de la Chasse of M. Souhart, in which Falconry, although by no means adequately treated, has received some share of attention.
Long prior to the publication of these two works the Catalogues of Kreysig (1750), Lalldmant Freres (1763), and Lastri (1787) included the titles of books on Hawking, as well as of those relating to other branches of the Chase; while since their appearance, lists, varying in length and importance, have been printed by Baudrillart, Hammer-Purgstall, Riesenthal, and Senores Uhagon and Leguina. Of these the most comprehensive is certainly that of Schlegel; but although extensive as compared with other lists of the kind, it is conspicuously deficient in regard to the titles of English, French, and German works on Falconry; not because many of these were printed after Schlegel's Traitd had appeared (which would have furnished a sufficient reason for their omission), but because they were evidently unknown to him.
In the present Bibliotheca Accipitraria profiting by the labours of my predecessors, and having made researches in all directions, I have been able to set down 378 titles in nineteen languages. These have been transcribed verbatim et literatim and the various editions and translations indicated. In the course of twenty years' collecting, the majority of the books have been either procured, or seen, and carefully examined; and it is believed that no printed work of any importance has escaped notice. Incidentally a great number of MSS. have been referred to, and the libraries in which they are preserved indicated; but they have not been catalogued for two reasons.
In the first place, I have already given an account of the English MSS. relating to Falconry in my Introduction to an Elizabethan treatise on the Sparrow-hawk and Goshawk (No. 81 of the present Bibliotheca); and, in the next place, no proper catalogue of existing MSS. on the subject in other languages could be prepared without making a tour of the principal Continental libraries, and devoting a considerable time to an examination of the originals. It has been thought desirable, however, to state where MSS. of importance are deposited, so that those who have the leisure and inclination to examine them may be guided in their research. This information will be found in the critical notes which follow the titles, where also the reader will often discover some account of the authors of important works, with hints as to the sources of their inspiration. In a few cases the extreme rarity of a treatise, or the trouble which would be entailed upon those who would attempt the perusal of the original, has suggested a translation of so much as was deemed necessary to convey an accurate notion of the contents. For example, a precis is given (pp. 67-71) of the rare Livre du Faulcon (c. 1486) — of which no English translation exists — with quotations which sufficiently exemplify the phraseology of its unknown author. The history and disputed authorship of the almost equally rare Livre du Rui Modus is examined (pp. 61-66). The celebrated Spanish treatise on Falconry by the Prince Don Juan Manuel is epitomised (pp. 1 13-1 1 5), as is also that of the famous work of Martinez de Espinar. An epitome is furnished (pp. 169-172) of the Latin work of the Emperor Frederick II, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (1245), and of the Greek work of Demetrius of Constantinople, written in 1270 (pp. 181-183); while in the case of the Russian books catalogued, half-a-dozen in number, a transliteration of the titles follows the original, and is succeeded by an abstract of the contents.