Lot 175
Hexham, Henry
The ... Principles of the Art Military
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 21 September 2023 at 10:00 BST
Description
... The Second Edition newly corrected and amended. [In 4 parts, comprising:]
i) The First Part of the Principles of the Art Military, practised in the Warres of the United Netherlands, under the Commaund of his Highnesse the Prince of Orange our Captaine Generall. For so much as concerned the Duties of a Souldier, and the Officers of a Companie of Foote, as also of a troupe of Horse, and the exercising of them through their severall Motions.
Delft: for the lovers of the noble art military, 1642.
Engraved volvelles at ²F1r. (partly pasted down as in ESTC), K1v. (slightly rumpled at inner corner), and K2r. (detached but present), engravings throughout the text (many full-page), early ownership inscription of one Henry Osborn to title-page, leaf A1 repaired, quire ²A⁶ ('Briefe Instructions of the Duties of a Horseman') bound at end of part 2
[Cockle 136; ESTC R11968, 11 copies world-wide];
ii) The Second Part of the Principles of the Art Military ... Consisting of the Severall Formes of Battels, Represented by the Illustrious Maurice Prince of Orange ... and His Highnesse Frederick Henry Prince of Orange ... Together with the Order and Forme of Quartering, Encamping, and Approching, in a Warre Offensive and Defensive.
Delft: [no printer], 1642.
20 engraved plates (all but 2 double-page, several by Hondius), very small worm-track to foot of quires I-N, associated pinhole-sized tracks to foot of a few plates
[Cockle 163, with Antony of Heusden imprint; ESTC R234005, 1 one copy only, at Christ Church Oxford, and 9 copies for the Antony of Heusden imprint];
iii) The Third Part of the Principles of the Art Military .... Treating of severall Peeces of Ordnance, Carriages, Engines, Quadrants, Morters, Petards, as also Instructions for Master-Gunners, and Canoniers, with Divers Instruments and Materials belonging to a Warre with their severall Uses and Practices.
Rotterdam: James Moxon, 1643.
3 engraved plates lettered A-C (A double-page, closely trimmed along top edge), engravings in text, I2 and M2 cancelled as usual
[Cockle 164; ESTC R26057, 8 copies];
iv) An Appendix of the Lawes, Articles, and Ordinances, established for Marshall Discipline, in the Service of the Lords the States Generall of the United Provinces, under the Commaund of his Highnesse the Prince of Orange. Together with the Articles of Quarter for the Ransoming of Officiers and Souldiers ... Translated out of Dutch into English.
The Hague: Isaac Burchoorn, 1643.
C1-2 transposed and misbound between B1 and B2
[Cockle 137; ESTC R231620, 7 copies].
4 parts in 1 volume, folio (35 x 21.5cm), contemporary sprinkled calf ruled in blind, rebacked, collations as in ESTC
Footnote
Note: Second edition of an acknowledged 'tour de force of English military literature and a veritable catalogue of the Dutch contributions to the transformation of warfare in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries' (David Lawrence, The Complete Soldier: Military Books and Military Culture in Early Stuart England, 2009, p. 104). Henry Hexham was an English soldier who served in the Netherlands during the climactic decades of the Eighty Years' War, acting as quartermaster to Sir Horace Vere's regiment at the relief of Breda in 1625, the siege of Bois-le-Duc ('s-Hertogenbosch) in 1629, and at the capture of Venloo, Roermond and Strale and the siege of Maastricht in 1631-2. 'After Vere's death he became quartermaster to the regiment of George (afterwards Baron) Goring, with whom he served at the siege of Breda in 1637' (ODNB). The first three parts of the work were respectively published in 1637-38-40, and the appendix also in 1637.