Aelianus Tacticus, translated by Bingham, London, 1616-1631, 2 volumes, calf

AELIANUS TACTICUS

A complete set of John Bingham's translation, 2 volumes, comprising:

i. The tactiks of Ælian or art of embattailing an army after ye Grecian manner Englished & illustrated wth figures throughout... London: [Eliot’s Court Press] for Laurence Lisle, [1616], folio (300 x 194mm.), engraved architectural title by Egidius Gelius, 49 (of 50) mostly folding engraved plates of various sizes, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials, contemporary mottled calf, red speckled edges, spine gilt in compartments, lacking one plate, some plates slightly torn, minor soiling and spotting, joints repaired

ii. The art of embattailing an army. Or, The second part of Ælians tacticks. Containing the practice of the best generals of all antiquitie, concerning the formes of battailes... Englished... by Captaine John Bingham. London: for Ralph Mab, 1631, folio (282 x 182mm.), woodcut head-pieces and initials, 16 engraved plates (most folding), contemporary calf, English manuscript fragments in binding, lacking frontispiece, some repairs to plates, some ink- and water-staining, some plates shaved, a few marginal tears, some soiling, spine repaired

A handbook of Macedonian drill and tactics as practised by the Hellenistic successors of Alexander the Great. Captain Bingham served in the Dutch army whose leaders had a keen interest in the works of Aelian; the general of the Dutch army, William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg, had translated some of Aelian into Dutch and adapted the classical countermarch into a useful battle strategy to accommodate the reloading of firearms. Bingham, with his first-hand experience, included this Dutch adaptation in his translation, and the engraved title-page at the start of the first volume includes a picture of Alexander the Great passing his military prowess to Maurice of Nassau. Bingham's additional text "The exercise of the English" was used in the Instructions for the Musters issued by the Privy Council in 1623 (see lot 255).

Ralph Mabbe, the printer of this and other military works, served with Bingham in the Artillery Company in the 1610s.

LITERATURE:

Cockle 88; ESTC S106791 & S106812; STC 161 & 163

PROVENANCE:

1616: Thomas Francis Fremantle, armorial bookplate; 1631: Charles Wren, early signature on title-page