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Military History / Uniforms

Rare early edition of a classic and profusely illustrated work on Roman military practice
and establishment of encampments, and Roman baths

CHOUL, Guillaume du. Discorso ... Sopra la castrametatione & bagni antiche i Greci & Romani. Nivamente revisto & ricorretto dallistesso Auttore. Con laggiunta della figura del campo Romano.
[Padua], Marc Antonio Olmo, 1558. 8vo. The word "Discorso" printed in woodcut border at the top of the title-page, with woodcut printers device: an elm with the words: "Ulmus amica viti" (the elm is friendly for vines). With 43 full-page woodcuts (ca. 11 x 7.5 cm), a large folding woodcut plate in two leaves (as issued, in total ca. 40.5 x 36 cm) of a plan of a Roman camp: "Figura del Campo de Romani", and 2 large historiated woodcut initials of 10 lines and 3 capital spaces with guide letters for initials of 5 lines. Modern vellum. 80, [4] ll. Full description
€ 1,250
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Discussing whether Venetian art is better than Tuscan

DOLCE, Lodovico. Dialogo della pittura. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto pittore si acconuengono: con esempi di pittori antichi, & moderni: e nel fine si fa mentione delle virtù e delle opere del divin Titiano.
Venice, Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1557. With a woodcut vignette on the title page, 2 decorated woodcut initials, a woodcut headpiece, and 2 headpieces built-up from typographical ornaments. Later half vellum, title in ink on spine. 60 ll. Full description
€ 5,000
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A magnificent and extremely rare contemporary hand-coloured suite of 115 numbered plates of the protagonists of the Austrian Succession wars

ENGELBRECHT, Martin & C.P. MAJ. [115 contemporary hand-coloured engraved plates picturing 18th-century European military life].
Augsburg, Martin Engelbrecht, ca. 1742. Folio. 115 engraved and magnificent hand-coloured plates, highlighted with gold and silver, drawn by C.P. Maj and executed and printed by the Augsburg engraver and art publisher Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756). With separately printed engraved captions consisting of a (sometimes 2-line) title and a poem of 4 or 5 lines in French below each plate (except plates 55-56 which have a German caption printed below and a French caption in the plate), pointing out the characteristics of the man depicted. Modern red morroco, marbled sides. 115 plates. Full description
€ 38,000
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Exquisitely produced work on falconry and horse riding, with many coloured illustrations

ES, N.J.A.P.H. van. De hippische sport en het korps rijdende artillerie 1793-1908 ... 1e gedeelte [valkerij]. 2e gedeelte [hippische sport].
Arnhem, Coers & Roest and G.J. Thieme, [1913]. 2 volumes. Large 4to (37.5 x 31 cm). With ca. 80 lithographed plates and numerous illustrations and decorations in text, many beautifully coloured by hand and some highlighted with silver and/or gold. Original publisher's gold-blocked blue cloth, with a coloured hooded hawk on front boards, upper edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. [16], 172, [18], [2 blank]; [14], 221, [1 blank], [17], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 18,000
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Rare first edition of a magnificent series of armed riders in action, commissioned by Prince Maurice of Orange

GHEYN, Jacob II de. [The riding school or exercise of cavalry].
[Leiden, workshop of Jacob II de Gheyn, 1599]. Oblong folio (25 x 32 cm). With 22 numbered engraved plates (varying sizes, ca. 15.4-16 x 19.7 x 21.5 cm), including the engraved title page. The illustrations are designed by De Gheyn and possibly engraved by him or by Zacharias Dolendo. Contemporary gold-tooled calf with the large gold-tooled coat of arms of the Stuart Princes of Wales (Stuart Prince of Wales, Henry Frederick (1594-1612)) within a gold- and blind-tooled double fillet frame on both boards, with small gold-tooled flowers on the spine, gold-tooled board edges. [22 engraved plates]. Full description
€ 38,000
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Presentation copy to the first Earl of Salisbury of the rare first English edition
of a famous illustrated military manual, magnificently coloured by a contemporary hand

GHEYN, Jacob II de. The exercise of armes for calivres, muskettes, and pikes. After the ordre of his Excellence Maurits Prince of Orange Count of Nassau etc.
The Hague, [1607 (added in manuscript on the title page)]. 3 parts in 1 volume. Folio (ca. 37 x 27 cm). With engraved title page with at the head of the page the coat of arms of the dedicatee, Prince Henry Frederick, eldest son of King James I of England within a wreath of lilies and roses, which - together with the title and the imprint were engraved on 3 separate slips of paper pasted over areas left blank for that purpose; and 117 (including one repeat) expertly engraved plates (ca. 26 x 19 cm): 42 numbered plates in part 1, 43 partly-numbered plates in part 2 and 32 numbered plates in part 3. All engravings including the engraved title-page are magnificently coloured and highlighted in gold and silver by a contemporary hand. The plates show exercises with the arquebus (part 1), musket (part 2), and pike (part 3). Mid-19th-century gold-tooled half (faded) red morocco and red cloth sides, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, bound in 1840-ca. 1860 by the celebrated British bookbinder Robert Riviere (1808-1882) with his stamp "Bound by Riviere" in the bottom outer corner of the verso of the first flyleaf. [4]; [2]; [3] ll. Full description
€ 165,000
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Famous military manual. First edition published in Germany, with 117 charming new woodcuts

GHEYN, Jacob II de. Waffenhandlung von den Röhren, Mußqueten und Spiessen. Gestalt nach der Ordnung deß ... Herrn Moritzen, Printzen zu Uranien, ... Maniement d'armes d'arquebuses, mousquetz, & piques.
Frankfurt, Wilhelm Hoffmann, 1609. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With the letterpress title within engraved border (including the imprint), and 3 series of 42, 43 and 32 full-page numbered woodcuts, showing exercises with the arquebus, musket and pike. Contemporary vellum, rebacked. [3], [1 blank], [43], [1 blank], [44], [36] ll. Full description
€ 12,500
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85 precise illustrations of the use of military arms and of French military uniforms in the 17th century

[GIFFART, Pierre]. L'art militaire françois, contenant l'exercice & le maniement des armes, tant des officiers que des soldats, réprésenté par des figures en taille-douce dessinées d'après nature. Avec un petit abregé d'exercice comme il se fait aujourd'hui. Dédié à Monseigneur le Marechal Duc de Boufflers.
"Paris" [printed in the Netherlands?], "Pierre Giffart" [publisher unknown], 1697. Small 8vo (16 x 10 cm). With engraved frontispiece and 85 full-page engraved illustrations (12 x 7.5 cm). Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. [14], 178 pp. Full description
€ 5,750
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Everything you could possibly want to know about the Grenadier guards

HAMILTON, Frederick William. The origin and history of the first or Grenadier guards. From documents in the state paper office, war office, horse guards, contemporary history, regimental records, etc.
London, John Murray, 1874. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 17 portraits (3 serving as frontispieces), 60 maps and plans (3 folding), 7 chromolithographed plates and 1 view in total. Original publisher's red cloth. Each volume with a ticket of "Metchim & son...". XXXIV, [6], 458; XXXIV, 548; XVIII, 496 pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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The world of monks and knights: hand-coloured encyclopaedia of sacred orders

HELYOT, Pierre. Histoire des ordres religieux et militaires, ainsi que des congrégations séculières de l'un et de l'autre sexe, qui ont été établies jusqu'à présent ...
Paris, Louis, 1792. 8 volumes. 4to. With 812 full-page hand-coloured engravings, along with woodcut devices on the title pages and some woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine, title lettered in gold, volume number set within black circular label, the initials "P.W.S." lettered in gold at the foot of the spine, marbled endpapers. Each volume around 400-500 pp. Full description
€ 12,000
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