Hardcover
1749 · [Without place but possibly Genoa]
by WARFARE. MILITARY. Anonymous
[Without place but possibly Genoa]: July, 1749. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary full calf, double ruled boards, gilt decorations and title to spine. With an allegorical title illustration in black ink with the title written in brown ink within the shield. The text is written in brown ink. Illustrated with 17 full-page drawings in black ink. Text-block edges red. A fine, unpublished artillery manuscript describing strategies, battle formations, siege tactics, construction of fortified parapets, chemical recipes for making explosive projectiles and incendiary devices, precision targeting, etc.
The manuscript was produced in the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, more specifically, in the Duchy of Savoy, which included Genoa and had its capital at Turin. Because of its strategic military content, the manuscript was probably made and circulated in very few copies and distributed only within the highest ranks of the Piemontese military.
The manuscript is known in two other copies, both produced for earlier campaigns: one for "per la campagnia l'anno 1740", now in the Bibliothèque de l'École militaire, Paris; the other "per la campagnia l'anno 1741", now in the library of the Duke of Savoy (see below for bibliographical references.) A handwritten note in our copy, dated 1882, on the verso of the front fly-leaf, compares this copy to the one in the Library of the Duke of Genoa: "Nella Biblioteca di S[ua]. A[lteza]. R[eale]. il Duca di Genova trovasi altra Copia col n° 438 del 1741 la quale salvo maggior sesto, la diversa paginazione e la mancanza della tavola della pag. 132. è a questa identica" ("In the Library of His Royal Highness the Duke of Genoa there is another copy with the number 438 dated 1741 which, except for the larger size, the different pagination and the lack of the drawing on page 132 is identical to this one".). (Inventory #: 5028)
The manuscript was produced in the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, more specifically, in the Duchy of Savoy, which included Genoa and had its capital at Turin. Because of its strategic military content, the manuscript was probably made and circulated in very few copies and distributed only within the highest ranks of the Piemontese military.
The manuscript is known in two other copies, both produced for earlier campaigns: one for "per la campagnia l'anno 1740", now in the Bibliothèque de l'École militaire, Paris; the other "per la campagnia l'anno 1741", now in the library of the Duke of Savoy (see below for bibliographical references.) A handwritten note in our copy, dated 1882, on the verso of the front fly-leaf, compares this copy to the one in the Library of the Duke of Genoa: "Nella Biblioteca di S[ua]. A[lteza]. R[eale]. il Duca di Genova trovasi altra Copia col n° 438 del 1741 la quale salvo maggior sesto, la diversa paginazione e la mancanza della tavola della pag. 132. è a questa identica" ("In the Library of His Royal Highness the Duke of Genoa there is another copy with the number 438 dated 1741 which, except for the larger size, the different pagination and the lack of the drawing on page 132 is identical to this one".). (Inventory #: 5028)