Williams, A Briefe Discourse of Warre, London, 1590, later red morocco

WILLIAMS, ROGER

A Briefe Discourse of Warre... with his opinion concerning some parts of the martiall discipline. Newly perused. London: Thomas Orwin, 1590

Second edition, 4to (178 x 129mm.), woodcut device on title, later red morocco by Riviere & Son, occasional staining

A Briefe Discourse of Warre "is almost the only Renaissance military text written by an Englishman that is incontrovertibly authoritative and comparable in quality to the most advanced and influential Continental works on sixteenth-century warfare. Measured against most military textbooks of the age, it is remarkably instructive, comprehensive, and, rarest of all virtues, practical" (The Works of Sir Roger Williams, edited by John X. Evans, OUP, 1972, p.cxxxix).

LITERATURE:

Cockle 45; ESTC S120635; STC 25733

PROVENANCE:

Thomas Francis Fremantle, armorial bookplate, purchased from Pickering & Chatto, 7 February 1905, £8-8s