THE ART OF FORTIFICATION, OR ARCHITECTURE MILITAIRE. by MAROLOIS, Samuel.: - 1638

Amsterdam: for John Johnson, 1638.. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION 1638, divided into two parts, reviewed augmented and corrected by Albert Girard, Mathematician... & translated out of the French into English by Henry Hexam, Ex library copy. 4to, approximately 280 x 190 mm, 11 x 7½ inches, 40 numbered double page plates, but there are 42 in total as there are two plates numbered 2e 14 & 2e 17, engraved title page which is from the Amsterdam Dutch edition of 1627 with printed cancel slip of title and date pasted over the original printing, this is the same as the Sotheby's Macclesfield, copy see note below, 44 pages to 1st part and 48 pages to 2nd part followed by a double page-table, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, handsomely rebound in full panel calf, heavy gilt decoration to spine, raised bands, maroon label with gilt lettering, new endpapers, the collation is the same as Cockle: *2, A4-F2, Aa4-Ff4; * and F are in twos. Lower margin of engraved title page trimmed off with slight loss to image, pale staining to upper and lower margins throughout just affecting a few images, a few lower margins have small closed tears neatly repaired, 2 small neat repairs to outer margins, not affecting text, 1 page has 2 small repairs to upper margin, not affecting text, plates slightly dusty, occasional ink spot and mark, pages have horizontal crease, old ink name scribbled out on upper margin of title page, not affecting image, neat old ink name of previous owner and small pale library stamp on the blank side of title page, otherwise no more library markings. A very good copy. The first work on fortification in English in which the subject is treated scientifically. For though in several of the earlier books in English on the military art in general there are chapters, or sections devoted to this branch, these notices, at best, are fragmentary. Marolois' treatise describes the Dutch system, and has a table showing the dimensions of a fortification. See: Maurice J. D. Cockle, A Bibliography of Military Books up to 1641, page 111, reference 139. See also Sotheby's, The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield part 10, page 234, No. 3640; Sotheby's, The Cottesloe Military Library, page 143, No. 301; ESTC S101439, listing 4 copies; Laurence Hall Fowler, The Fowler Architectural Collection of the John Hopkins University, pages 159-160. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE. FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.