This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/25/2024
[COPPER ENGRAVINGS]. COMTE DE SAXE, Maurice (1696-1750). Les Reveries ou Memoires sur l’Art de la Guerre de Maurice Comte de Saxe, Duc de Courland et de Semigalle, Marechal-General des Arme’es de S. M. T. C. &c. &c. &c. Dediés a Messieurs les Officiers Generaux par Mr. de Bonneville Capitaine Ingenieur de Campagne de Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse. The Hague: Pierre Gosse Junior, 1756. Folio. Illustrated with 40 copper engraved plates, including 22 large foldout plates. 228, [iv] pp. Complete. Approximately 16 x 10 ½”. Large armorial vignette on title-page, title-page printed in red and black, and numerous copper engraved head- and tail-pieces. Bound in nineteenth-century quarter burgundy straight-grain morocco over marbled boards, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, later endleaves and binder’s blanks (some light wear, toning, foxing to binding, some occasional toning, foxing in text and plates). Fine. THE RARE FIRST AND ONLY FOLIO EDITION. A unique book in the field, the work shines with the spirit of the author who animates it, one of the greatest generals of the 18th century. The Count of Saxe reviews all the factors, all the elements necessary for the successful conduct of battles, from uniforms to food, to strategy, in a simple, clear and intelligible style. The chapter on the propagation of the human species follows, intended to counterbalance the art of destroying populations; the author gives his thoughts on the proliferation of demography and the means to increase it. The term “daydreams” refers not to the modern sense of ramblings but to that of realized hopes and secret thoughts. The Comte de Saxe’s popular and influential military treatise. A remarkable work on the art of war. Though described by Carlyle as “a strange military farrago, dictated, as I should think, under opium,” it is, in fact, a classic. It was published posthumously in 1756.