Errard, La fortification, Paris, 1600, contemporary limp vellum gilt

Errard, Jean. La Fortification réduicte en art et démonstrée par I. Errard de Bar-Le-Duc Ingenieur du Treschrestien Roy de France et de Navarre. Dediee à sa Maiesté. Paris, 1600

Rare first edition of the first independent French treatise on military architecture, which introduced to French readers the Italian styles of fortification with bastions and citadels. Errard worked for the Duke of Lorraine and later for Henri IV; part of the cost of this edition was borne by the king. Errard was a practising engineer who designed several citadels for Henri, and in this work he describes practical considerations relating to artillery and appropriate defences as well as siegecraft, based on his own experiences.

This binding is identical to that found on another copy, which was in the military library of Lord Cottesloe (sale in these rooms, 19 November 2019, lot 154).

Folio (416 x 275 mm). Roman and italic type, 54 lines plus headline. collation: â² A-Z² Aa-Cc²: 54 leaves (final leaf blank). Engraved title-page, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, engraved illustrations, ruled in red. Manuscript emendations on pages 5 and 8 (plausibly contemporary).

binding: Contemporary limp vellum gilt (420 x 282 mm), leafy gilt centrepiece, double gilt fillet border, flat spine with gilt fleur-de-lys stamp, gilt edges, remains of two pairs of green silk ties. (Binding slightly rubbed, foredge of upper cover worn.)

provenance: Johannes Philippus [--], inscription in a German hand on inside front cover — Erbach family of Hesse, small armorial ink stamp at foot of title-page — Gräflich Erbach-Erbachische Hofbibliothek, ink stamp at foot of title-page and on second leaf — Helmut Domizlaff, collation note on inside front cover with initials HD — Jacques Bemberg (born 1926), red morocco gilt booklabel on flyleaf, sale, Alde, Paris, 6 March 2014, lot 32. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: not in the standard literature; cf. Cockle 802 (starting with the 1604 edition)