Samuel Marlois - Fortification ou architecture militaire tant offensive que deffensive, Illustrato / figurato - 1627

Fortification or military architecture, both offensive and defensive; surveyed and designed by Samuel Marolois, reviewed, augmented, and corrected by Albert Girard, mathematician.
Amsterdam, Ian Ianssen
1627

Extremely rare illustrated volume on offensive, defensive, and military architecture.

Superb engraved frontispiece by Willem Outgertsz Akersloot (1600-1661); in the second part, page 29 is shifted; plates 14 and 17 are bis; plate 35 has slightly trimmed outer margins.
The report notes the absence of the first and last blank pages, a beautiful contemporary binding in pena leather with mottled surface, with a spine divided into five nerves and compartments decorated with gold tooling, chipping on the boards and some pages slightly browned, small galleries of woodworm at the counterplate that have also affected the lower edge of the frontispiece, a gallery of woodworm at the white edge of plates 13-19. Overall, the book is very good and well preserved, with pages featuring beautiful figurative watermarks, as shown in the photos.

First edition of this extremely rare work, revised and expanded by A. Giraud, which is printed separately from the 'Opera matematica' (Aia 1614-1616) by Samuel Marolois (1572-1627), a French military engineer serving the Netherlands.
This essay illustrates approximately 170 examples of military fortifications with plans and buildings, as well as some fortresses such as Hardewijk, Oostende, Coevoorden, Julich, and many others.
The work was one of the first to address fortification scientifically, employing geometric calculations to improve city defenses, particularly in the construction of bastions in the shape of a hexagon (such as in the city of Coevorden). Marolois is credited as the inventor of the faussebraye, a parapet parallel to the city wall designed to further hinder hostile forces.



Dimensions: (280 x 180 millimeters).
Pages: (Frontispiece engraved by W. Akersloot) (4)-42-(2)-46-(4)+42 double plates;


Shipment in suitable rigid packaging to protect the book during shipping. Please review the attached photos, which are an integral part of the present description.