Practice Fortification (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 2 parts in 1 volume, folio. I: [24] + 287 (misnumbered 299) + [1 blank]p + [4]p index; II: 83 + [1 blank]p. Roman & italic letter. Engraved allegorical title to first part incorporating author's bust portrait aged 58, signed Gaspar Rispoldi in tailend margin; 48 large engravings (1 full-page) of which 5 are bound in as 3 extra leaves outside collation (including repeats). 2 engraved and 6 woodcut head-pieces. Ornaments and initials. Large woodcut printer's device on p299. 18th century vellum with gilt-stamped morocco title label on spine. First edition of this comprehensive treatise on the theory and practice of fortification, the first work published by the prolific Roman military writer. Sardi is credited for advocating the construction of extended two-tiered flanks to be protected by orillons, semicircular projections at the shoulder of a bastion intended to cover the guns and defenders on the flank. The author's dedication to four Genoese patrons (Bartolomeo Lomellino, Giovan Domenico Pallavicini, Giacomo Catanio & Giorgio Doria) is dated 24 November 1618. A reprint appeared at Bologna in 1687. Tips of tailend blank corners lightly stained, some occasional light toning, otherwise a very good copy. Breman 260; Cockle 810; Jähns 1098-99; Jordan 3301; Riccardi II, 423.