Extremely rare first Portuguese translation of a brief treatise on the "art of artillery" by the Genovese artillerist De la Isla, who served in the Spanish Armada. First published in Spanish in 1595/96 by Madrigal in Madrid (Breve tratado del arte de artillería, geometría y artificios de fuego). Although Vicente Alvarez published a Spanish-language edition at Lisbon in 1609, the present edition appears to be the first in the Portuguese language. The present translation, by José Homem de Menezes, provided a textbook for the training of engineers and artillerymen in Portugal. We have located only one other copies at the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon, and have found no record of an other copy in auction catalogues.
With the bookplate of the Portuguese architect and collector José Maria Nepomuceno (1836-95) on the front paste-down; his stamp to verso of title-page. Later in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research. Light water-stains throughout with some red discoloration of the head margin from the red top edge. Carvalho, Dic. bibl. militar Portuguez, p. 172 (under "Menezes, José Homem de", note: "é muito raro"); Catalogo ...dos Marquezes de Castello Melhor (1878), 1655 (2 copies); Inocêncio vol 5 (1860), 169; Trindade, Catalogo da livraria do José Maria Nepomuceno (Lisbon 1897), p. 123, no. 898 (this copy, "muito raro"); Pinto de Matos, Manual bibliographico Portuguez, p. 360 (under "Homem de Menezes"); Porbase (1 copy (and 1 microfilm copy) at the BNP); cf. Cockle 670 (1595 ed.); Palau 121967 (Spanish 1595 and 1603 eds., does note the Portuguese ed. in the Catalogo ... dos Marquezes... (see above)).; WorldCat (eds. in Spanish also very rare: 4 copies).