Papillon de la Ferté - Élémens d'architecture, de fortifications et de navigation - 1787

PAPILLON DE LA FERTE (Denis-Pierre-Jean) – Élémens d'architecture, de fortifications et de navigation. Paris, Veuve Ballard, 1787. Octavo, in the original blue paper wrappers, complete with 16 engraved plates and contemporary annotations.
Bibliographical and physical description

Attributed to Denis-Pierre-Jean Papillon de La Ferté (1727–1794), Superintendent of the King's Menus-Plaisirs, under the initials M. P. D. L. F..

Octavo (approx. 20 x 13 cm). Copy preserved in its contemporary blue paper wrappers, untrimmed, with rough-cut edges.Complete with 16 folding, hors-texte copper-engraved plates (architectural orders, fortification plans, warships, wind roses, and nautical instruments).

Copy enhanced by an old handwritten ink attribution on the title page identifying the author (Papillon de la Ferté), as well as a contemporary bookseller's tally on the verso of the half-title.

Exceptional condition, preserved “as issued,” with its original paper wrappers. Interior in remarkably fresh condition; plates perfectly preserved.

Published by the celebrated Veuve Ballard printing house in 1787, this technical manual belongs to the great encyclopedic tradition of the late Ancien Régime. It brings together the three essential fields of knowledge for the education of officers and the enlightened elite: classical architecture, siegecraft (fortifications), and naval art.
The author, Papillon de La Ferté, a prominent figure in the royal administration under Louis XVI, here presents an innovative work featuring one of the very first comparative French-English glossaries of naval terminology.

Finding an eighteenth-century technical work in its original blue paper wrappers (not rebound by a later owner) is an absolute rarity on the market, offering bibliophiles the rare privilege of having it bound to their own taste.