SURIREY de SAINT-REMY Pierre Lieutenant of the... Lot 153

SURIREY de SAINT-REMY Pierre Lieutenant of the Grand Maistre of the French Artillery Artillery Memoirs. Second edition, Augmented with new material and several plates. In Paris, by Rigaud, 1707. 2 vol. in-4° (26x19,2 cm) Frontispiece, engraved by Lepautre after Antoine Dieu, vignette on the title page, Portrait after Hyacinthe Rigaud, dedication vignette, chapter vignette, cul de lampe, and historiated lettering, 50]-394 pp. and [6]-423 pp. 196 plates (121 plates in vol. 1 and 75 plates in vol. 2), folding tables, bound in tan calf with 2 corners leg. Rubbed otherwise no other defects, spine with richly decorated nerves, title on red maroq. piece and gilt engraved tomaison gilt roulette on the edges (period binding). Complete with frontispiece and 194 plates including 2 added plates (p279) and 194 numbered plates and the numerous tables, conforming to the table. A solid copy with a fresh interior. Second edition of the best and most exhaustive work on artillery published in the 18th century. Its author was the tactician Pierre Surirey de Saint-Rémy (1645-1716). His approach is not that of a theorist seeking to impose his ideas, but that of a man of the seraglio (therefore unquestionable within the Artillery) wishing to synthesize the knowledge and practices of his time to allow all artillery officers to have access to it. Practically all the French artillerymen of the 18th century, recognized as being the best in Europe, read it.