VILLE (Antoine de). - Lot 192

VILLE (Antoine de). Les Fortifications, contenans la manière de fortifier toute sorte de places... Lyon, Philippe Borde, 1640. In-folio, half vellum with corners, red speckled edges (18th-century Italian binding). Important treatise on fortification, the most complete, instructive and erudite of the first works of this kind published in France, according to Marini (Colson, pp. 69-71; Marini, pp. 75-77; Cockle, no. 831). Handsome frontispiece drawn 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, drawn 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. His treatise on fortification first appeared in 1628. Small marginal paper loss on folio BB1. Some foxing, irregular printing sometimes pale.