Rare first and only edition of a manual of military strategy by the Lisbon-born Mendes de Vasconcelos, head of the Portuguese Eastern troops and governor of Angola from 1617 to 1620. The illustrations show battle formations, featuring rectangular oders as well as circle and star formations. This is the only known work printed on the estate "do Mascote" in Alenquer, a small town some 50 km north of the capital, by the prominent Lisbon printer Vicente Alvarez, who was active between 1607 and 1626 and whose productions include an edition of the great epic poem "Os Lusíadas" in 1612.
A few marginal annotations in Portuguese by a contemporary hand. Binding somewhat rubbed, interior showing occasional light brown stains, occasional minor water stains near the gutter and a few small marginal wormholes; several plates repaired. Provenance: ownership stamp of the 19th century Portuguese scholar and bibliophile João Vieira Pinto to 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. Arouca V, 41; Cockle 615; Inocêncio V, 306f; Monteverde 389, 3505: "Raríssimo"; Barbosa Machado 3, 115, 116; Palau 162883; Palha 1, 473; Pinto de Matos, 396; USTC 5008880.