Taplin Improved; or A Complete Treatise on the Art of Farriery, Wherein are Fully Explained The Nature and Structure of that useful Creature, a Horse; with the Diseases and Accidents he is liable to; and the Methods of Cure. Exemplified by Ten Elegant Cuts, Each the Full Figure of a Horse, Describing all the various Parts of that Noble Animal. Likewise, Rules for Breeding and Training of Colts: Practical Receipts for the Cure of Common Distempers incident to Oxen, Cows, Calves, Sheep, Lambs, Hogs, &c., To Which is Prefixed Ten Minutes Advice to the Purchasers of Horses. By Henry Bracken, M. D., Troy, Printed and Sold by Francis Adancourt, at the Columbian Book-Store, and also Sold by Whiting and Powers, in Troy - By H. C. Southwick, in Albany - W. E. Norman, in Hudson, & Samuel Wood, in N. York. 1815, First Edition, Original binding, 10 full-page plates (including frontispiece) all included and intact, Leather binding, 204 pp, 6.5 x 4.25", 12mo. In fair condition. Leather boards scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Head and tail of leather spine rubbed; head of spine beginning to chip at front hinge. Title label on spine intact; gilt lettering moderately dulled & legible. Foxing found on top edge of text-block. Old-hand ink marginalia found on front paste-down & end-page. Ownership inscription found at top edge of front end-page: "Nathan A. Philo kept this book a long time from the owner." Age-staining found on top corner of frontispiece. Previous ownership signature, in ink, found at top edge of frontispiece: Henry Philo. Normal age-related toning and finger-soiling throughout text-block; mostly to edges of leaves. Plates are chipped around edges, but otherwise intact. Ownership inscription found on rear end-page (verso): "Henry Philo's Book 1816. Where ever this book should chance to come, pray use it well, and send it home." Cording exposed at rear gutter. Original binding tight and intact. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. A scarce American farrier's manual, first edition 1815 publication, Taplin Improved, which carries forward the work of 18th-century farrier William Taplin (1740? - 1807), and incorporates the observations and advice of Henry Bracken (1697-1764). The book provides advice on the purchase of a horse, the disorders of the feet and legs, the chest and bowels, as well as the shoulders and hips. Included are excerpts from other works, and cures provided by farriers and horsemen in the northeast and mid-Atlantic. Henry Bracken was educated at Lancaster, under Mr. Bordley and the Rev. Thomas Holmes, and he was afterward apprenticed to Dr. Thomas Worthington, a physician in extensive practice at Wigan. At the expiration of his apprenticeship, about 1717, he went to London, and passed a few months as pupil at St. Thomas' Hospial. About 1746, he was charged with abetting the Jacobite rebels and thrown into prison, but was discharged without trial, there appearing to have been no ground for his arrest; indeed, he had previously rendered a service to the king by intercepting a messenger to the rebels, and sending the letters to the general of the king's forces, and for this act he had been obliged to keep out of the way of the Pretender's followers. Philo family ownership, Troy, New York. Henry Philo & Nathan A. Philo. RAREA1815DOPB 04/24 - HK1513
