Essai Sur L'art De Guerre (2 Volume set)
Paris: Proult & Jombert, 1754. Quarto. Item #027684
In two volumes with exceptionally wide margins. Volume I, half-title, 443 pages with printed errata at bottom of the last page, Volume II, half-title, 204 pages with 25 engraved copper fold-out maps, each exquisitely hand-colored. Lancelot de Turpin Crisse with plates illustrating all aspects of how armies might attack or defend in the various conditions of war (forts, rivers, unusual terrain). General George Washington first learned of this book while serving with General Forbes who had used its ideas in the Duquesne campaign. Washington who could not read French immediately was able to understand the maps and their implications which he refers to it in his writings (I, 219). Many copies are lacking maps among the best and complete in American libraries are the one at West Point, the U.S. Army War College, Yale, Princeton, the Houghton at Harvard, and NYPL. Both volumes beautifully bound in a full modern paneled calf, raised bands, red and green contrasting leather labels gilt, renewed endpapers. A very handsome set.
Price: $2,150.00