SAXE (Maurice comte de). Mes rêveries. Posthumous work by Ma - Lot 73

SAXE (Maurice comte de). Mes rêveries. Posthumous work by Maurice comte de Saxe, duc de Curlande et de Sémigalle, maréchal général des armées de Sa Majesté Trés-Chrétienne. Augmented by an abridged history of his life, & various pieces. [Amsterdam & Leipzig, Arkstée & Merkus, [Paris, Durand], 1757. Two volumes in-4 (279 x 206 mm), 5 f. n. o.c., CXXXIV pp., I f. n. o.c., 159 pp. ; 2 f. n. o.c., 259 pp., marbled and glazed fawn calf, ornate smooth spine, red title-piece and dark green tomaison, cold fillet, gilt roulette on the edges, marbled edges (period binding). Given by Abbé Gabriel-Louis Pérau, this is the first edition strictly conforming to the original 1740 manuscript. The text is accompanied by an important biography of the victor of Fontenoy, supporting documents and the author's Réflexions sur la propagation de l'espèce humaine. The edition published a year earlier by Zacharie Pazzi de Bonneville included only 40 plates. The illustration consists of 84 beautiful plates of military costumes and tactical plans. 81 were colored at the time. Most of the plates, which fold out, were engraved on copperplate under the direction of architect Pierre Patte, based on the author's drawings. They detail troop positions and movements, tactical diagrams, fortifications, artillery pieces and models of flags and ensigns. Published posthumously, Mes rêveries is a kind of military testament to Count Maurice de Saxe (1696-1750). The work offers a highly personal reflection on the various aspects of warfare: recruitment, uniforms, troop maintenance and training, infantry and cavalry combinations, fortification and entrenchment, terrain analysis, etc. Combining fertile imagination and practical sense, the Count of Saxony also proposes astonishing innovations, including a rolling rifle called the amusette, a suit enabling soldiers to run faster, and new equestrian equipment. Restored bindings, small split at one spine, light wetness at the head of the 2 volumes, small marginal tear on p. 17 of vol. 2, spots in places, otherwise a good copy of this classic of military art in contemporary binding. (Brunet, V, col. 174; Cohen, col. 942-943 erroneously indicates 94 plates).