Traité des fortifications. De l'art de fortifier les... plac - Lot 194

Traité des fortifications. De l'art de fortifier les... places où l'on explique les differens sistemes qui ont été mises en usage jusqu'à ce jour et les différens dehors qui ont été pratiquez pour éloigner les aproches. Circa 1750. 23-line, in-folio manuscript, 24.5 x 38 cm, calligraphed in brown ink on laid paper, 1 blank page, 282pp. (numbered 280, 2 of which are blank), VII + XVIIIpl. (numbered XXII) + IVpl. (numbered IV) + IIIpl. (numbered IV), all folded, 20th-century brown shagreen binding, triple gilt frame on boards, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt motifs. Important, elegant manuscript illustrated with 32 large, finely colored plates detailing typical fortification systems and plans. Regulated in red ink. The manuscript is divided into four parts: "De la simple enceinte", "De la fortification moderne", "Des dehors et des citadeles" and "Des fortifications irrégulières? It details Vauban's various systems, as well as those of Errard de Bar-le-Duc, Antoine de Ville, Pagan and Baron de Coëhorn. An in-folio manuscript from 1720, preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale, with the same title and just 68 pages, is marked "dessinez par... le marquis de Charleval ; expliqué par le sieur d'Armancourt". Another (French 9164), dated 1714, bears the later indication "Par mr le mal de Vauban". Finally, nine other virtually identical manuscripts, some without plates, others with 31 or 36 plates, preserved at the Service historique de la défense in Vincennes, are attributed to Joseph Sauveur (1653-1716), professor of mathematics at the Collège de France, who was elected to the Académie des sciences in 1696, where Vauban joined him in 1699. A very fine, fresh copy.