The Mokken Collection: Books and manuscripts on fencing before 1800

The collection of fencing books and manuscripts of honorary member and former chairman of the Royal Dutch Fencing Association (KNAS) Wiebe Mokken (1959) is one of the most important and extensive in this area. In this first part we focus, after an introduction by the collector, on books and manuscripts from before 1800. It includes for instance the first illustrated fencing book printed in Italy (1531), the first printed fencing book in Dutch (1671), a contemporary coloured copy of Angelo’s L’ecole des armes (1763), and the iconic works by Joachim Meyer (1570), Salvator Fabris (1606), Gerard Thibault (1628 [= 1629]), and Lorenz de Rada (1705). All books and manuscripts have been provided with an analytical-bibliographical description by rare books and manuscripts specialist Miriam Vogelaar (1983). This general catalogue will be the first in almost 125 years to appear on this subject. The bibliographies/catalogues of Jacopo Gelli (1895) and Carl Thimm (1896) were sound reference works for the era in which they were published, but the descriptions in those works lack functional illustrations and thorough scientific analyses.
This new catalogue fills that void and will act as an indispensable reference work for researchers, librarians, antiquarian bookshops, collectors and auction houses.