BAUDOUIN (Simon-René de). Exercise de l'infanterie françoise - Lot 51

BAUDOUIN (Simon-René de). Exercise de l'infanterie françoise ordonné par le Roy le VI. May M.DCC.LV, drawn after nature in all its positions. [Paris], s. n., 1757. In-folio (494 x 324 mm) of 4 ff. n. ch., 62 plates numbered 2-63 (the first being the title-frontispice), 16 pp. in marbled havana calf, ornate ribbed spine, brown morocco title-piece, gilt lace framing the boards, gilt arms on a brown leather medallion in the center, interior roulette, gilt edges (period binding). First and superb edition of this magnificent suite of 63 fully engraved plates of miltary uniforms. This suite of positions for the inspection and handling of weapons was created with finesse and precision for the new infantry regulations of 1755, the text of which is also fully engraved. The frontispiece was designed by Pierre, the title with medallion portrait of Louis XV by Bouchardon, and the cul-de-lampe of the warning by Saint-Aubin. The entire suite was etched by Simon-René Baudouin (1723-1797), colonel of infantry and lieutenant of grenadiers in the French Guards regiment, who in peacetime was a talented burin artist. Cohen points out that he "was not lacking in merit" and that he had assembled a fine collection of paintings, much of which was sold to Catherine II of Russia. The copy bears the arms of Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg. The coat of arms, "per pale 1, gules fess argent, 2, banded Or and azure bordure gules", has been gilded on a piece of brown leather laminated to the center of the boards. Binding restored, a few small paper restorations in the margins, scattered foxing, soiling on the edges of plate no. 9. A remarkable copy in contemporary binding. (Colas, no. 245; Hiler, p. 70; Cohen, col. 121)