Brancaccio - I carichi militari - 1620

Brancaccio Fra’ Lelio

The military charges

Milan - 1620 - (1619 at the colophon)
Printed by Giovanni Battista Bidelli

(52), 282, (1) p.
In 8o - 16.5 x 11.5 cm.

THE DUTIES, THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND THE CIVIL AND STRATEGIC FUNCTIONS OF THE VARIOUS RANKS OF THE ARMY.

CONSIDERED THE FIRST MODERN MANUAL FOR THE CHAIN OF COMMAND.

Contains 5 splendid plates, repeatedly folded, depicting dispositions and military formations, encampments, assaults on fortresses and maneuvers.

A famous treatise on the art of war and military science, written by the Neapolitan condottiere Fra’ Lelio Brancaccio, a Jerusalemite knight and field master for the Spanish crown.

This is the Milanese second edition, much rarer than the 1610 Antwerp princeps. In the same year (1620) Deuchino at Venice printed a counterfeit of this Milanese edition, with the same 5 plates, but of obviously poorer paper and printing quality.

This important text is today regarded as a significant historical source for understanding the organization of European armies at the start of the Thirty Years’ War, written by an author (Brancaccio) who soon served as field master and military adviser in the Low Countries and for the Republic of Genoa.

The work consists of 14 books, from the first book ‘On the load of the simple soldier’, containing the famous description of the ideal arquebuser: arquebus, cartridge pouch with 12 charges of powder, bag with lead balls, morion, sword, training to recognize trumpet signals, to the fourteenth book ‘Of the walled-field fortifications’, probably the most sought-after chapter, with the study of reinforced fields during sieges, with calculations of accommodations.

Excellent nineteenth-century binding in full parchment, with elegant author’s manuscript, title and printing date.

The interior is well preserved as well, with 5 splendid plates on strong paper, also well preserved.
Beautiful frontispiece fully engraved, etched by Christophe Le Blanc, with weapon trophies.
Some small damp stains and browning, but the text and engraving appear perfectly legible.
Guard sheets preserved.

Excellent copy, complete in every part.
BOUND. COMPLETE