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Maria Theresia & Joseph II Holy Roman Emperors (co-rulers 1765 80)Reglement für das Militär Fuhr-wesen. German calligraphic manuscript in a fine gothic professional hand in black & brown ink on watermarked Dutch laid paper. Dated at end: Vienna, 30th October 1776. Folio (335 x 211mm). 188 page of text, mostly set in half-page columns, paper vertically folded in centre-page, paragraphs numbered in blank margins; including 6 ½ full - page tables with expense estimates for pay, food rations, equipment etc.One large part-coloured folding plan (375 x 580mm) illustrating details of a military transport encampment within line borders. Bound in contemporary sprinkled light brown boards; red morocco gilt title label in top of spine.; edges lightly rubbed in places; contemporary green silk page marker; contemporary armorial bookplate pasted inside frontcover. Manuscript draft proposal for creating a permanent military transport unit in the imperial Austrian army for both peace and war time. Comprising separate cost estimate tables for pay and ration allowances for officers, other ranks, smiths, cartwrights and 448 horses (double-page), estimated expense tables for uniforms, equipment and munitions (double-page), and recruitment specifications for a military transportation corps in war time. The document contains precise regulations for the duties and conduct of the various officers, other ranks, drummers, veterinary surgeons, smiths, cartwrights, saddlers, surgeons, quarter-master sergeants, military police, the flog-master, the inventory clerk, the adjudant, the judicial clerk, the accountant, the field chaplain, and the commandant. Provision is made for the inspection of supplies; there are also general regulations for the unit, and the full text of the oath of loyalty to the joint rulers to be taken by all members of the proposed transport corps. Supplementary sections deal with required training exercises, artillery transport, estimated costs of transport with ox-carts (double-page), model instructions for harnessing 25 carriages drawn by 4 horses, and details of military horse transportation as practiced at Mons in the Austrian Netherlands under Lt.Colonel von Kraus. The folding plate shows a neat oblong military transport encampment surrounded by 200 carts arranged in a line; pitched tents form an inner parallel line; the large commander s tent in the centre of the camp is located near smaller tents of the adjudant, sergeant-quartermaster, surgeon and lower ranks; to the right is seen a lieutenant s tent with 2 carriages, baggage, and reserve horses; to the left, a subaltern s tent with 2 carriages and reserve horses. A neatly inscribed notice in the right tailend margin states that an opening in the corners of the oblong allows sufficient space to allow one horse to pass through it. The present document is of considerable historic interest as it anticipates the creation of the first permanent military transport and supply corps in 1782 by the Enlightenment Emperor Joseph II, acting as sole ruler, as part of his sweeping reforms. The decree, published as Regulament für das k.k. Militair-Verpflegs-Fuhrwesen-Corps, was well in advance of its time : it established a permanent military transport unit (modern logistic corps) consisting of 18 companies of 150 men with 25 transport carriages drawn by 4 horses, a total of 320 horses, enlarged at a later stage. Up to this period supply units were only formed for the duration of a campaign and afterwards dissolved. In Britain the first systematic military transport unit, known as Corps of Waggoners , was introduced 12 years later, in 1794, during the Napoleonic wars. The paper of the folding plan has the large watermark of the Dutch manufacturer J.Honig & Zoonen , used in the same year for the original broadsides of the American Independence Declaration of July 4th.With armorial bookplate of Alexander v.Seckendorff. The manuscript is in fresh condition throughout. Seller Inventory # ABE-5734181349475914545
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