Versuch über die Anwendung der Minen im Belagerungs Kriege oder Militairischer theil der Minirkunst ...., 2 vols.

Berlin: Lithogr. Institut d. Berliner Kriegsministeriums
, [1817]. Second Expanded Edition.. Contemporary paste paper boards.. Fine.. 4to, I - [20], 337, [1 - blank], [4 - index] + 16 sheets of folding plates on page stubs; II - [3], [1 - blank], 3 - 352, [4 - index] + 8 sheets of folding plates on page stubs. In volume I pls. #4 & 5 and #8 & 9 are on two sheets with all plates consecutively numbered to 18 but therefore being only 16 individual sheets of plates; in volume II pls. #21 & 22 and #26 & 27 & 28 are on two sheets with all plates consecutively numbered 19 - 29 but therefore being only 8 individual sheets of plates

A lithographic rarity. Lahr's manuscript treatise on military engineering is more than 700 pages and entirely printed in lithography. It is the first publication of the Lithographic Institute of the Prussian Ministry of War, which took over the earliest permanent lithographic press in Berlin founded by Ludwig von Reiche in 1815. Lahr's Introduction provides a detailed description of the procedures used in the production of the plates (engraving on stone, pen drawing, chalk drawing, etc.) and of the text. He also provides the names of the lithographers employed. This is certainly one of the most extensive, if not the most extensive, books produced lithographically at this early date. See J. Aufsesser, "Die Entwicklung der künstlerischen Lithographie in Berlin," in Zeitschrift fur Bucherfreunde IV (1900), pp. 288-96.