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What does a bullfighter need beyond courage when every bull behaves differently?
In The Complete Art of Bullfighting, Francisco Montes, known as Paquiro, presents the corrida as a craft that can be taught. His starting point is knowledge, not daring alone. This Spanish manual sets out the rules, roles and skills that seek to turn a rough popular spectacle into an ordered art.
Published in Madrid in 1836, the treatise records the corrida as its modern shape emerges. Montes asks the fighter to study each bull from its first moments in the ring. He explains the stages of the fight and the need for calm: panic can cost a matador his position and bring him within reach of the horns.
What you’ll discover
- Knowledge before courage Explore Montes’s claim that the bullring demands learned skill, not personal daring alone.
- Each bull is different Discover why close observation of the animal lies at the heart of his teaching.
- A fight in stages Follow the corrida’s three stages, beginning with the mounted picadores and their lances.
- Calm under threat See how composure and distance shape the work with cape and muleta.
- Rules with a legacy Trace the methods that later fighters and writers draw on when discussing the corrida.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like manuals by true masters, Spanish history, or the study of how a craft is reasoned out, move by move.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The ring is a craft
- Knowledge supports Paquiro's defense of bullfighting
- Abuses call for repair rather than prohibition
- Knowledge must guide courage and agility
- Respect the bull's route to refuge
- Read the bull before choosing a maneuver
- Timing matters more than bravado
- Care must govern the whole event
- Observation is the thread through the rules
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The Complete Art of Bullfighting
by Francisco Montes (Paquiro) · 1836
Francisco Montes, called Paquiro, writes down how to read a charging bull before it reaches you.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What does a champion matador say when he sits down to write? Francisco Montes, known as Paquiro, who died in 1851, treats the corrida as a craft with fixed laws, like a master carpenter or pilot.
The Complete Art of Bullfighting at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 10 min3 h 15 min fast, 4 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 59,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1836by Francisco Montes (Paquiro)
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Bullfighting grew from knightly sport into a people's art
Paquiro begins with history. The earliest bullfighting he can name belongs to the nobility, and he credits El Cid as the first man seen lancing bulls from horseback. Kings and knights made it part of weddings and public celebrations.
Why did it last when other noble pastimes faded? Princes and churchmen banned bloody amusements but left bullfighting alone, which he reads as a sign it was seen as rational and safe.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1836
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 30 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Montes, Francisco. The Complete Art of Bullfighting. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-complete-art-of-bullfighting.
Montes, F. (2026). The complete art of bullfighting. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-complete-art-of-bullfighting (Original work published 1836)
Montes, Francisco. The Complete Art of Bullfighting. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-complete-art-of-bullfighting.
@book{montes2026complete,
author = {Montes, Francisco},
title = {The Complete Art of Bullfighting},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-complete-art-of-bullfighting},
note = {First published 1836}
}
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What is The Complete Art of Bullfighting about?
It is a treatise by the matador Francisco Montes, called Paquiro. It gives a history and defense of the corrida, then rules for fighting bulls on foot and on horseback, and ends with proposals to reform how bullfights are run.
Who was Paquiro?
Paquiro was the nickname of Francisco Montes, a leading Spanish matador of the early nineteenth century who died in 1851. He wrote this treatise from his own practice, stating the rules he thought a bullfighter must know.
What do querencia and verónica mean in this book?
A querencia is the spot in the ring where a bull prefers to stay, such as the gate of its pen. A verónica is the basic cape pass, done facing the bull as it charges along its own line.
The author
Francisco Montes
Francisco Montes, called Paquiro, was a leading Spanish matador of the early nineteenth century and died in 1851. He is remembered for this treatise, which sets down the rules of the art on foot and on horseback and gathers the lessons of the bullring into one system. It also carries his views on the history and the reform of the spectacle.
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