Fortification ou architecture militaire tant offensive que deffensive; Supputee et dessignee

MAROLOIS, Samuel

Published by Chez Jan Janssen, Amsterdam, 1627

About this Item

In two parts. [4], 42, [2], 46pp. With an architectural engraved title page by Willem Outgertsz Akersloot (1600-1661), a double-page table, and 42 double-page engraved numbered plates (plates 14 and 17 duplicated in foliation), presenting some 170 examples of military fortification. Contemporary vellum. Extremities heavily worn and marked. Title page partially naively hand-coloured. Early ownership inscription of 'Jean Ernest Comte de Nassau' and later inscriptions of David Bosanquet to title page. Later manuscript additions, apparently in Bosanquet's hand, to text of one plate. The first separate edition, an enlarged revision by French mathematician Albert Girard (1595-1632), of the military part of the Opera mathematica (The Hague 1614-1616) of Samuel Marolois (1572-1627), Dutch military engineer. The work was one of the first to treat fortification scientifically, employing geometrical calculations to improve city defences, notably in the construction of ramparts in a heptagon shape (such as with city of Coevorden). Marolois is credited as the originator of the faussebraye, a parapet run parallel to the enceinte (enclosing wall) in order to further impede hostile forces. Fittingly, this copy bears the inscription of Johann Ernst of Nassau-Weilburg (1664-1719), Imperial Generalfeldmarschall and veteran of the War of Spanish Succession, notably the siege of Landau (1702). David Bosanquet (1699-1741), English Turkey Merchant who build a family fortune in Halab in the Levant, and was later a director in the London Assurance Company. Size: Folio. Seller Inventory # AQ28834

Bibliographic Details

Title: Fortification ou architecture militaire tant...

Publisher: Chez Jan Janssen, Amsterdam

Publication Date: 1627

Edition: First separate edition.