M. Le Blond - Traité de l’attaque des places - 1780

LE BLOND (Guillaume) Treatise on the Attack of Fortifications, by Mr. Le Blond, Master of Mathematics for the Children of France, Ordinary Secretary & of the Cabinet of Madame Victoire, & Royal Censor. Third edition, revised & corrected. In Paris, at Alexandre Jombert, Jeune, 1780. Volume in-8vo (about 20 x 12.5 cm), bound in full blond calf, back with raised bands richly ornamented with gilt lozenge ornaments, title piece in brown morocco, red edges, marbled endpapers. The illustration includes a frontispiece or engraved headpiece as well as 19 superb hors-texte plates, either folding or full-page, illustrating the profiles of fortifications, trench parallels, and sapping devices. Solidly bound copy, showing some epidermal wear and use at headbands and corners but maintaining a very handsome condition. The interior is of great freshness, well complete with the engraved plates and original guards, bearing witness to the special care lavished on this technical work. Guillaume Le Blond was one of the most influential military educators of the Ancien Régime, charged with instructing the children of France in the exact sciences and in the art of war. Officers of the royal army routinely slipped his treatises into their baggage before going on campaign, convinced that victory depended as much on the geometric rigor of the trenches as on the bravery of the troops, making these tactical manuals true relics of classical military art. Very fine copy.

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