CUGNOT (Nicolas Joseph). Élémens de l'art militaire ancien e - Lot 59

CUGNOT (Nicolas Joseph). Élémens de l'art militaire ancien et moderne. Paris, Vincent, 1766. 2 vol. in-12, marbled calf, ornate ribbed spines, triple gilt fillet framing the covers with gilt arms in the center, gilt fillet on the edges (period binding). First edition illustrated with 12 hors-texte plates of this treatise by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, a military engineer who served in Germany and the Netherlands under Prince Charles. He is notably the inventor of a new type of rifle and the fardier (fire-powered vehicle for transporting heavy loads). Worm gallery in the lower margin of vol. 2. A fine copy bearing the arms and cipher of Anne-Léon II Montmorency (1731-1799), Marquis de Fosseux and later Duc de Montmorency. He was successively menin du Dauphinet, captain-lieutenant of the Queen's gendarmes in 1745, chevalier de Saint-Louis in 1758, brigadier de cavalerie in 1761 and maréchal de camp in 1763 (O.H.R. 810, iron no. 2).