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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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The most complete collection known, from the library of F.C. Koch

[HOUTMAN, Johannes Paulus (lithographer)]. [Uniformen van militairen en vrijwilligers, schutter- en jagercorpsen].
[Utrecht, J. P. Houtman, ca. 1831]. Folio (ca. 25 x 21 cm). With 234 hand-coloured lithographic plates (169 unique plates, 65 duplicates) tipped onto the leaves. Further with a detailed handwritten index, a short lithographed index, and a three page lithographed description of the flags tipped onto the first leaf. Later gold-tooled reddish-brown morocco. [176] ll. Full description
€ 15,000
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Lively watercolour view of Tophane Quay in Istanbul with the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque

[ISTANBUL]. [KING, Helena Caroline or Adelaide Charlotte]. [Prominent Ottoman and entourage boarding boats before the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque].
[Istanbul?, ca. 1830/50?]. Watercolour drawing on wove paper (29.5 x 45 cm) with highlights in shellac and a thin black border. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper in a passe-partout. Full description
€ 8,500
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Highly detailed and carefully executed 18th-century Dutch military manuscript and handbook

LIERNUR, Johan Friederich. Memorie boeck of verzaameling van alderhande soorten van lijsten, in den dienst gebruiklijk sijnde, of geweest hebbende; Staat der sterkte der trouppen van den staat, met hunner betaalinge etc.; Ranglijst van de generaaliteijt, en staffs officieren; Eenige resolutien en ordres, modellen van briefjes enz.; Staat, detail en dienst van 't garnisoen, en de trouppes in S.G. Haage; Mitsgaaders eenige plans van ordre de bataille en campeeringe, en modell, van roosters.
[The Hague?], ca. 1757. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4to. Written in Dutch in a neat 18th-century hand in one column, also with many tables. With a hand-drawn title-page in washed ink, with the title in a cartouche, showing a court scene with an armed soldier before Pallas Athena on the throne, the latter helding the motto "Scientia artis rei militaris", and at the head of the page a hand-coloured freemasonry symbol. Also with 4 hand-drawn half-titles in washed ink with the titles in different cartouches. Also with 3 full-page plans showing battle lines, including those for the battles of Muhlberg (1730) and Oosterhout (1732), 2 folding plans for the military camps of both the infantry and cavalry and many tables. 18th-century mottled calf, gold-tooled frame on both boards with gold-stamped fleur-de-lis in the corners, gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled board edges, gilt edges, marbled endpapers. [6], 174 pp. including some blanks. Full description
€ 5,000
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Belgian and Dutch military uniforms, civil dress and clerical garb from antiquity to 1830,
in 124 hand-coloured plates

[MADOU, Jean Baptiste and Jean Louis van HEMELRYCK]. Costumes Belgiques anciens et modernes, militaires, civils et réligieux.
Brussels, Lithographie Royale de J.B.A.M. Jobard, 1830. Folio. With a hand-coloured lithographed title, and 124 hand-coloured full-page numbered lithographed plates, of which some heightened with gold, all protected by tissue paper guards. Contemporary gold-tooled quarter polished calf. II, 26, [27-198], IV pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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Rare first edition with 12 large hand-coloured plates of uniforms of Napoleons Dutch honour guard

[MILITARY UNIFORMS]. Uniformes des gardes d'honneur des différens corps dans les sept départemens de la Hollande; formés pour la réception de ... l'Empereur et Roi. ...| Uniformen van de gardes d'honneur, van de onderscheiden corpsen in de zeven départementen van Holland; opgericht tot de ontfangst van ... den Keizer en Koning.
Amsterdam, Evert Maaskamp, [1811]. Royal folio (42.5 x 32 cm). With 12 aquatint costume plates (plate size 32.5 x 23 cm), in the publisher's original hand-colouring, with the original tissue guard leaf tipped onto each plate. Recent boards, with the original plain paper wrappers laid down. Kept in a matching green half morocco clamshell box. [48] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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Original watercolours of military men and related people 1757-1852 in the realms
of what was to become the Austro-Hungarian Empire

[MILITARY UNIFORMS]. [Military and quasi-military uniforms, portraits and scenes of battles, uprisings etc.].
[Austria or Saxony?, ca. 1870?]. Large folio album (39 x 30.5 cm). With 84 large watercolour drawings (28 x 16 cm to 25.5 x 36 cm) on wove paper, with captions in German and/or French, mounted on the (ca. 1962) album leaves, and with the coat of arms of Von Lindeman(n) of Sachsen-Anhalt (in coloured gouaches plus gold) mounted on the first page. Early 20th-century(?) half tanned sheepskin. [44] album ll. Full description
€ 35,000
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30 hand-coloured lithographs of uniformed men in the Hessian army

MÜLLER, Franz Hubert and Joseph VÖLLINGER. Grossherzoglich Hessisches Militair. Nach der Natur aufgenommen von . . . der Grossherzoglichen Gemaelde Gallerie in Darmstadt und auf Stein gezeichnet von J. Völlinger.
Karlsruhe, Johann Velten, [ca. 1830]. Royal folio (45×32 cm.) With a lithographic title page and dedication to the Archduke Ludwig von Hessen (both by Johann Evangel. Mettenleiter), contents list and 30 numbered lithographs of army officers and enlisted men, many on horseback, all beautifully coloured by hand with watercolour, gouache and glazed highlights. Modern red half morocco. [2], 30, [1] ll. Full description
€ 15,000
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From India to Egypt, with 19 hand-coloured plates and 2 maps

NOÉ, Louis Pantaléon Jude Amédée, Comte de. Mémoires relatifs a l'expédition Anglaise partie du Bengale en 1800 pour aller combattre en Égypte l'armée d'orient.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale (back of half-title: [Auguste] Nepveu), 1826. 8vo. With 2 folding lithographed maps, partly coloured by hand, and 19 hand-coloured lithographed plates. Contemporary red half morocco, gold-tooled spine, marbled sides. [3], [1 blank], III, [1 bank], 288 pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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A picturesque journey through Switzerland

[REICHARD, Heinrich August O.]. Malerische Reise durch einen großen Theil der Schweiz vor und nach der Revolution.
Jena, H.W.Ch. Seidler, 1805. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece with 4 medallion portraits, engraved title-page with the title on a rock in an alpine scene, 54 numbered engraved plates (1 folding) and 2 folding leaves with built-up letterpress music. With the 4 costume plates hand-coloured. Later 19th-century half cloth. XVI, 414, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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The Imperial Guard of Napoleon

SAINT-HILAIRE, Emil Marco de. Geschichte der Kaiser-Garde.
Leipzig, J.J. Weber, 1848. 4to. With 43 full-page plates (of which 39 hand-coloured, mostly woodengraved, after H. Bellangé, E. Lami, Ch. Vernier), many smaller woodengravings in text. Contemporary blue morocco, title lettered in gold on spine, covers gold-tooled, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. XII, 536 pp. Full description
€ 750
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The most beautiful work on Dutch military uniforms

TEUPKEN, Jan Frederik. Beschrijving hoedanig de Koninklijke Nederlandsche troepen en alle in militaire betrekking staande personen gekleed, geëquipeerd en gewapend zijn ...
The Hague, Gebroeders van Cleef (printed by de gebroeders Giunta d'Albanie), 1826.
With: TEUPKEN, Jan Frederik. Vervolg van de beschrijving hoedanig de koninklijke Nederlandsche troepen en alle in militaire betrekking staande personen gekleed, geëquipeerd en gewapend zijn.
The Hague, Gebroeders van Cleef (printed by de gebroeders Giunta d'Albanie), 1826. 2 parts in 2 volumes. Folio. With 68 full-page numbered plates (65 hand coloured and engraved, 3 lithographed), a full-page hand-coloured unnumbered engraved plate, and an engraved title page in the first volume.
Slightly later black paper, with a black paper title label on the spine, lettered in gold. The work is housed in a modern gold-tooled half black morocco clamshell box with marbled paper sides, with the title and author lettered in gold on the spine. [1], [1 blank], 10, 110, 20, [2], [2]; 4, [2], 54, 7, [3] pp. Full description
€ 9,500
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