VILLE (Antoine de). - Lot 147

VILLE (Antoine de). Les Fortifications, contenans la manière de fortifier toute sorte de places [...]. Avec l'ataque [sic], et les moyens de prendre les places par intelligence, sédition, surprise, stratagème, escalade... Lyon, Philippe Borde, 1640. In-folio, half vellum with corners, smooth spine, title on spine, red speckled edges (18th-century Italian binding). Colson, pp. 69-71. - Marini, pp. 75-77. - Cockle, n°831. Third edition of this important treatise on fortification, "the most complete, instructive and erudite of the first works of this kind published in France" according to Marini. It features a handsome portico frontispiece designed and engraved by Antoine de Ville himself, dated 1641, a portrait of the author engraved by Jérôme David after Artemisia Gentileschi, and 53 numbered plates, including 10 fold-outs, designed and engraved in intaglio by the author. Antoine de Ville (1596-1658) was one of the leading exponents of the French fortification school. An expert in the art of fortification, this military engineer served in turn the Prince of Savoy, the Republic of Venice and Cardinal de Richelieu. Under the latter's orders, he inspected the towns of the Oise when the Spanish were preparing to invade Picardy, and, in November 1636, took part in the recapture of the town of Corbie. His treatise on fortification first appeared in 1628. Small marginal paper loss on folio BB1. Some foxing, irregular printing sometimes pale.