Downstairs we have a file cabinet that houses the Library’s vertical files: documents that don’t necessarily belong in an archive collection, yet have significant value and are used as ready reference material to supplement our book and archive collections. Some of the subjects in our vertical files include a variety of horse associations, hunt clubs, […]

Does the woodblock print below look familiar? If not, sit back to learn more! Not only is a it a striking image of a horse, there is a pretty interesting backstory about the artist as well. The woodblock print can be found in the National Sporting Library & Museum’s copy of Hippiatria sive Marescalia by […]

Did you know that the National Sporting Library & Museum owns a rare, first-edition of Methode et invention nouvelle de dresser les chevaux (Method and new way to train horses)? The volume, written by William Cavendish (1592-1676), the first duke of Newcastle, was published in 1657 in Antwerp, where the Royalist general lived in political exile during the […]

Did you know that the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) has an Aldine book? Neither did I! Till last week! I was reviewing the Library’s rare book collection for items published prior to 1700, when I spotted the word “Aldine” in the library catalog. The Aldine Press was founded in Venice in 1494 by […]

Full disclosure: not everyone at the NSLM rides, hunts, plays polo, wingshoots, or fishes. We currently have nine full-time staff members. Of that nine, two are regular riders and sportswomen, and one is a part-time rider, having been much more active in her younger years (which, should be stated, was not too long ago). The […]

A key component of sporting life is the outdoors. Whether you are viewing the angling scenes depicted in the newly acquired Benson and Pleissner paintings on view at the Museum, or reading a bit of Frank Forester, the textual descriptions and painted, drawn, or sculpted manifestations of nature, the countryside, fauna, and wildlife are prominent […]

The blog oftentimes focuses on items from the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Collection, but the collections in the Reading Room are just as fascinating and often provide interesting insight into the history of Virginia. I stumbled across the book, Robert Carter of Nomini Hall while reshelving several books and something about the simplicity of […]

Eugene Connett, III founded the Derrydale Press in 1927, a press devoted exclusively to sporting books.  Books published by Derrydale are eagerly sought after and are known not only for their beauty but for their sharp focus on sporting literature topics.  Today, a dedicated following of Derrydale Press enthusiasts collect books exclusively from this publisher. […]

For anyone who has taken a tour of the NSLM’s F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room, the name Vladimir Littauer will be a familiar one. The Littauer Collection, gifted to the NSLM by Andrew and Anya Littauer in 2006, contains over 200 books and pamphlets on equitation and horsemanship from the 17th through the 20th […]

Sometimes the best things are found by accident, and that is what happened when I came across this photo album in the archives. I was downstairs looking for some photographs of Middleburg, but instead came across this album on the Los Altos Hunt. I was pretty excited, as a native Northern Californian. I was born […]