Lot 248
Gibson, William
The Farriers New Guide
Auction: From the Library of Professor Roland Paxton | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 221 to 252
Description
… Containing First, the Anatomy of a Horse, being an Exact and Compendious Discription of all his Parts. London: printed for William Taylor, 1720. First edition, 8vo (19.7 x 12cm), contemporary calf, raised bands, folding engraved frontispiece, 7 engraved plates, boards lightly scuffed, corner tips bumped, light spotting and toning to pastedowns and endpapers but otherwise internally clean [ESTC T94747]
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12th November 2025); Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.
Footnote
Gibson was a ‘prolific and popular writer’ (Fussell, Old English Farming Books p. 116). The work is divided into two parts: the first deals with the anatomy of horses, including detailed descriptions of their structure, while the second part, 'Containing an exact and perfect account of all the diseases' has a separate title-page and pagination. The plates are taken from Italian writer Carlo Ruini's work Anatomia del Cavallo, which was first published posthumously in 1598.