Scienza d'Arme (Salvator Fabris)

Scienza d’Arme
The Science of Arms
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Author(s)	Salvator Fabris
Illustrated by	Nicolaus Andrea of Flensburg Jan van Halbeeck Francesco Valesio
Dedicated to	Christian Ⅳ of Denmark
Place of origin	Copenhagen
Language	Italian
Genre(s)	Fencing manual
Sources	GI.kgl.Saml.1868 4040 (1601)
Publisher	Henrico Waltkirch
Publication date	1606, 1619, 1622, 1624, 1650, 1672, 1676, 1713
First english edition	Leoni, 2005
Pages	256 pages
Treatise scans	Digital scans (1606) Digital scans (1606) Digital scans (1606) [more] Digital scans (1606) Digital scans (1606) Digital scans (1606) Digital scans (1606) B&W photocopy (1606) B&W photocopy (1606) Digital scans (1619) Digital scans (1622) Digital scans (1624) Digital scans (1624) Digital scans (1624) Digital scans (1644) Digital scans (1644) Digital scans (1672) Digital scans (1677) Digital scans (1713)

De lo Schermo, overo Scienza d’Arme ("On Defense, or the Science of Arms") or Sienza e Pratica d’Arme ("Science and Practice of Arms") is an Italian fencing manual written by Salvator Fabris in the 1590s and printed in 1606. It treats the use of the rapier, both solo and in conjunction with the cloak, dagger, and rotella shield; it also discusses unarmed defenses against the dagger. Fabris's treatise is one of the most influential rapier manuals in history, reprinted many times and copied or expanded by numerous other authors.

Publication History

Scienza d’Arme was first printed in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1606 by Henrico Waltkirch. It was based on Fabris' earlier manuscript treatise Scientia e Prattica dell'Arme (GI.kgl.Saml.1868.4040); the text was rewritten in a more flowery style, and the artwork of the manuscript (which was drawn from life) was redrawn in an exaggerated, classical style. It included a title page and portraits engraved by Nicolaus Andrea of Flensburg, heraldry and most illustrations by Christian Ⅳ's court artist Jan van Halbeeck, and additional illustrations by Francesco Valesio. In 1624, unsold copies of the first edition were apparently acquired by Pietro-Paolo Tozzi in Fabris' native Padua, who replaced damaged pages from the first signature and released them under the title Della vera pratica et scienza d’armi. The publication information at the back of the book was further covered by a decorative paper.

The first translation of Fabris was in 1619, a German edition published in Leiden by Isack Elzevier under the title Des Kunstreichen Italiänische Fechtkunst ("The Illustrated Italian Art of Fencing"); this version also replaced the elaborate copperplate engravings of the original with rudimentary woodblock figures. This edition was reissued in Nuremberg in ca. 1650. Another German translation was produced in ca. 1635, but was never published and only survived in the MS Dresd.C.94a.

In 1622, book II of Fabris' treatise received another German translation and its first French translation, which were published in Frankfurt by Jacob de Zeter. This the first multilingual and parallel text edition of Fabris' work. Zeter included this work as book II of his 1619 translations of Nicoletto Giganti's 1606 treatise Scola, overo teatro ("School or Theater"), which he published in separate French and German editions titled Escrime Novvelle ov Theatre ("New Fencing or Theater") and Newe Fechtkunst Oder Schawplatz ("New Fencing Art or Show Place") respectively, both of which contained both translations of the text. This has oddly lead various fencing historians to accuse Giganti himself of plagiarism. Unsold copies were sold as a new edition, including a new title page but merely covering the year 1622 on the title of Fabris' section with a slip of paper saying "1644".

In 1676, Johann Joachim Hynitzsch published an Italian-German parallel text in Leipzig titled Sienza e pratica d’arme. This edition included yet another German translation, either by Hynitzsch or possibly his teacher, Hans von und zum Felde, as well as a preface in which he denigrated all prior German publications on Fabris (specifically mentioning the translations of Elzevier and Zeter and the derivative works of Hans Wilhelm Schöffer and Sebastian Heußler). There is evidence that this translation was circulated in multiple manuscripts prior to publication. Hynitzsch's edition was reprinted in Leipzig in 1713.

Fabris' treatise was translated into English by A. F. Johnson in the early 1900s; multiple typescripts were produced of the final draft, but it was not published until the HEMA Bookshelf edition of 2022. A second English translation was produced by Tom Leoni and published by Chivalry Bookshelf in 2005 under the title The Art of Dueling: Salvator Fabris' Rapier Fencing Treatise of 1606; this was reprinted (without its introductory material) through a self-publishing service in 2016. In 2010, it was translated into Spanish by Eugenio Garcia-Salmones and published under the title La esgrima o la ciencia de las armas ("Fencing, or the Science of Arms").

Contents

1 - 76	Book 1 part 1 - Rapier by Salvator Fabris
76 - 133	Book 1 part 2 - Rapier and dagger by Salvator Fabris
134 - 149	Book 1 part 3 - Rapier and cloak by Salvator Fabris
151 - 218	Book 2 part 1 - Rapier by Salvator Fabris
218 - 242	Book 2 part 2 - Rapier and dagger by Salvator Fabris
243 - 256	Book 2 part 3 - Grappling, dagger, and cloak

Gallery

Title pages

First title (1606)

Second title (1606)

1619 German

1522 French/German

1624 Italian

1644 French/German

1650 German

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1672 Latin

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1677 Italian/German

1713 Italian/German

Illustrations

Heraldry

Christian Ⅳ

Salvator Fabris

Cutting diagram

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Windsor variant

A copy of Fabris owned by a private collector in UK has the entire second signature and one sheet from the third signature replaced for unknown reasons. These are the replacement pages, which are clearly 17th century work and possibly were added before the original binding.

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1624 edition

The second edition was apparently created using unsold copies of the first edition. The inner and outer sheets of the first signature (including the title page) were replaced, possibly due to damage to all remaining books. The replacement pages follow. Additionally, the date and printing information on the final page were covered up with a decorative scrap of paper.

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Additional Resources

• Johnson, A. F. Fencing or the Science of Arms by Salvator Fabris: Illustrated Edition. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2022. ISBN 978-1-953683-23-6
• Johnson, A. F. Fencing or the Science of Arms by Salvator Fabris: Unillustrated Edition. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2022. ISBN 978-1-953683-21-2
• Garcia-Salmones, Eugenio. La esgrima o la ciencia de las armas: Libro primero, 1606. Editorial Sacauntos, 2010. ISBN 978-84-937207-8-0
• Garcia-Salmones, Eugenio. La esgrima o la ciencia de las armas: Libro segundo, 1606. Editorial Edizer, 2011. ISBN 978-84-938120-8-9
• Leoni, Tom. The Art of Dueling: Salvator Fabris' Rapier Fencing Treatise of 1606.
  • First Edition: Highland Village, TX: Chivalry Bookshelf, 2005. ISBN 1-891448-23-4
  • Second Edition: Self-published, 2016.

Copyright and License Summary

For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.

Work	Author(s)	Source	License
Images	Nicolaus Andrea of Flensburg, Jan van Halbeeck, Francesco Valesio	Guy Windsor
Transcription (1606)	Michael Chidester	Index:Scienza d’Arme (Salvator Fabris) 1606
French Translation (1619)		Index:Escrime Novvelle ou Theatre (Salvator Fabris) Book 2
German Translation (1677)	Alex Kiermayer	Index:Sienza e pratica d’arme (Johann Joachim Hynitzsch)