PRATIQUE DE LA GUERRE Contenant l'usage de l'Artillerie, Bombes et Mortiers, Feux Artificiels et Petards, Sappes et Mines, Ponts et Pontons, Tranchees et Travaux, avec l'ardre des assauts aux Breches. by MALTHE, Francois de. (Francis Malthus).: - 1650

Paris, Chez Gervais Clousier, au Palais, sur les degrezde la saincte Chapelle, 1650.. Ensemble un Traite des Feux de Joye. Par Le Sieur Malthus, Gentilhomme Anglois, Commissaire general des Feux et Artifices de l'Artillerie de France, Capitaine general des Sappes et Mines d'icelle, et Ingenieur es Armes de Roy. SECOND EDITION 1650 (first published in 1646), small 4to, approximately 220 x 165 mm, 8¾ x 6½ inches, engraved frontispiece with arms of Charles de la Porte, Seigneur de la Melleraye, to whom the work is dedicated. 27 full page engravings in, plus 1 not in text, 1 folding engraved plate and 1 small engraving in text, 2 signed Jacques Picart, head- and tailpieces and decorated initials, pages: (8), 1-282, (6), collation: a4, A-2N4. Rebound in full modern speckled calf, gilt lettered label, lettering and decoration to spine, marbled and cream endpapers, small ink smudges at top of original front endpaper, small ink smudges at top of front endpaper, lower margin of frontispiece trimmed off with loss of the narrow double lines, no loss to text or image, 1 pale ink name and 3 inked out words on margins of title page, large faint damp stain on pages 35-40, just showing on engraving page 38, occasional small pale mark to margin. A very good tight copy. Francis Malthus (d.1658), of English origin was an engineer in the royal French army and a captain general of mines and sapping. He was responsible for the French use of the mortar beginning in 1634. Chapters on bombs, hand-grenades and Fireworks, both for warfare and recreational. Chris Philip, A Bibliography of Firework Books, page 91, M 040.8 MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.