XVII century Italian fencing treatise by Rudolpho Capo Ferro in the collection of the State Public Historical library’s of Russia

In three recent decades, the study of the history of European fencing art has been gaining momentum among historians. The main type of source in this area of research are fencing manuals - treatises, textbooks and manuals of the period under consideration. Most of Russian researchers, interested in the history of European martial arts, study fencing treatises of the past by scans in the Internet. And does not suspect that the originals of such editions are much closer. Indeed, in the Middle Ages and Early Modern times such books were not published in Russia. But European fencing treatises are still available in Russian libraries. Thus, in the Rare Books Department of the State Public Historical Library of Russia in Moscow was found the original work of the Italian author Ridolfo Capo Ferro da Cagli “The Great Presentation of the Art and Application of Fencing” of 1610 about fencing on rapiers. Succinctly written and well-published, it enjoyed relative success - subsequent Italian masters referred to it. The purpose of study is to describe a copy of this treatise from the State Public Historical Library of Russia and to clarify how it came to be in this book collection. The conclusions of the study are as follows: the treatise has an early XX century cover and a sticker of the Roman antique shop of C.E. Rappoport, where it was purchased. We connected with this family shop, specifically with senior Bernard Seacombe, grandson of Carl Ewald Rappoport. He provided us with a photo of his grandfather’s catalogue, were it was written as follows: in April 1914 in Rome this book was bought by Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky from a famous family of industrialists, bankers and philantrops Ryabushinsky. After the Russian revolution of 1917, the book, together with the rest of Stepan Riabuschinsky’s confiscated collection, was transferred to the library of the State Historical Museum of Russia. In 1934 this library became a separate State Public Historical Library (SPHL of Russia). Nowadays the treatise is available for study in the reading room of the Rare Book Department of the Library.