Compendio de las principales reglas del baile: traducido del francés por Antonio Cairon, y aumentado de una explicacion exacta, y método de ejecutar la mayor parte de los bailes conocidos en España, tanto antiguos como modernos.
Madrid: Imprenta de Repullés, plazuela del Ángel, 1820. With one full-page allegorical engraving and two pages of choreographic diagrams. First edition. Contemporary Spanish mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments with red morocco label; marbled endpapers. [2] III–XVI, 222 [2 (blank)] p., [1] engraved leaf. In fine condition.
A scarce Spanish dance manual containing the earliest description of the choreography of the fandango; one of the most important Spanish dance treatises of the early 19th century.
Rare first edition of one of the most important early 19th-century Spanish dance manuals. Authored by Antonio Cairón, a professional dancer and second director of dance at the royal theaters in Madrid, the work draws on French instructional models but is largely original in its treatment of Spanish dance. It offers concise guidance on posture, coordination, step execution, and rhythm—including vernacular forms such as the bolero—and presents the earliest detailed choreographic account of the fandango (Baird, Goldberg & Newman 2015).
The manual captures a transitional moment in which traditional Spanish dances were being codified and taught alongside imported European forms. According to the Biblioteca Nacional de España (2011), the Compendio ranks with Biosca’s Arte de danzar (1832) as one of the two most significant Spanish dance treatises of the period.
The volume includes choreographic diagrams illustrating movement patterns—spiral, straight, circular, and oblique—an early example of floor notation in Spanish dance literature. A full-page allegorical engraving bound before the main text shows a classical dancer with a lyre and the inscription “Mide y acompasa el tiempo y el sonido” (“Measure and match time and sound”), reflecting Enlightenment ideals of harmony and precision.
The fandango, with roots in Afro-Latin, Amerindian, and Iberian traditions, evolved into a defining expressive form in Spain and the Americas. Cairón’s treatment marks a pivotal moment in its written transmission.
No copies traced in RBH; an exceptionally scarce work in the trade.
References: Biblioteca Nacional de España. De la gallarda al vals: La danza en los libros antiguos. Exhibition catalogue, 6 October 2011 – 15 January 2012. Madrid: BNE, 2011.; Baird, T., Goldberg, M., Newman, K., & Jared, G. (2015). Changing places: Toward the reconstruction of an eighteenth-century danced fandango. Música Oral del Sur, (12), 628–665.
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Price: €8,000.00