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Stock Features
Selections from Catalogues 1396: Medieval Manuscripts and 1397: Politics by Other Means
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1397 Number 11: WITH 44 ENGRAVED PLATES OF FORTIFIED TOWNS BOYER, Abel. The draughts of the most remarkable fortified towns of Europe, in 44 copper plates. With a geographical description of the said places. And the history of the sieges they have sustain’d, and the revolutions they have undergon, for above these two hundred years last. To which is prefix’d an introduction to military architecture, or fortification. Containing the origin and progress of that noble art; with the explanation of all the terms belonging to the same. A work very useful to all gentlemen, and officers in the army. London, printed for Isaac Cleave, 1701. 4to, pp. [iv], 29, [1, blank], with 44 engravings (one folding); some light browning, a few leaves a little dust soiled, else a very good copy; contemporary mottled calf; rebacked. First edition. A collection of engraved plans, mostly of French or Dutch origin, with accompanying descriptions and brief military histories, depicting the leading fortified towns of Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century and the War of the Spanish Succession. The majority of these, including Namur, Maastricht, Saint Malo, and Cambrai, had either been re-fortified or besieged by Marshal Vauban, Louis XIV’s famous master of siegecraft at the end of the preceding century. An introductory chapter on the art of fortification, which describes the known types of military architecture and the best besieging and blockading methods, also follows the principles set by Vauban. Of the books on ‘military technology, no works had greater influence or enjoyed greater prestige than those of Sebastien Le Preste de Vauban... His authority in the eighteenth century was immense, nor had it appreciably dimmed after the time of Napoleon’ (Guerlac, ‘Vauban: the impact of science on war’ in Paret, ed., The makers of modern strategy pp. 72–3). Boyer was a French Huguenot who fled France following the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which had granted the Huguenots substantial rights. Boyer settled in England, becoming a well-known author and political commentator. He published a number of works on military matters, an interest which probably developed from his early education in mathematics and fortification. It is possible he also served briefly in the army of the Dutch Republic following his exile from France. Shirley, Atlases I p. 294.
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[GIBRALTAR, Spanish siege of 1727.], A map of the coast of Spain, from the Streights of Gibralter, to the Gulf of Cartagena. [and] A new plan of the garrison of Gibralter, with its fortifications &c.
London, sold by H. Overton & I. Hoole, [circa 1727]. These two plans of Gibraltar were issued contemporaneously with the five-month Spanish siege of the British garrison there during the brief Anglo-Spanish War of 1727 to 1729.
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1397 Number 44: [GIBRALTAR, Spanish siege of 1727.] A map of the coast of Spain, from the Streights of Gibralter, to the Gulf of Cartagena. [and] A new plan of the garrison of Gibralter, with its fortifications &c. 1726. London, sold by H. Overton & I. Hoole, [circa 1727]. 470 x 590 mm, two engraved plans on one leaf; old folds, a little worn. These two plans of Gibraltar were issued contemporaneously with the five-month Spanish siege of the British garrison there during the brief Anglo-Spanish War of 1727 to 1729. The Spanish failure at Gibraltar all but ended the conflict and though it technically lasted until the Treaty of Seville in 1729, there had been a truce in place since early 1728. Spanish forces, commanded by the Marquis de la Torre and the celebrated Spanish military engineer and founder of the Real Cuerpo de Ingenieros, Jorge Próspero de Verdoom, opened their attack on 11 February 1727. It was one of many attempts to regain the key strategic location of Gibraltar following its loss to the British at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The British garrison, however, supported by a naval squadron commanded by Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty between 1733 and 1742, successfully resisted the attack and the Spanish forces were forced to retire. Gibraltar, by allowing Britain to maintain a naval presence in the Mediterranean, was considered of great strategic importance in England and engraved plans, such as this, helped feed public confidence as to its significance. This plate, engraved by S. Parker, is in its first recorded state, with the blank inset frame at the bottom right (a map of Minorca is engraved here in the second state). COPAC records only one example, in the British Library (second state).
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[NAPOLEONIC WARS.], Manuscript journal of a British officer serving in the Low Countries from 1 January 1814 to 17 June 1815.
Original sheep notebook with red morocco label on upper board and ‘Waterloo’ written in ink underneath.
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1397 Number 68: NAPOLEONIC WARS
MANUSCRIPT BATTLEFIELD DIARY OF A BRITISH OFFICER [NAPOLEONIC WARS.] Manuscript journal of a British officer serving in the Low Countries from 1 January 1814 to 17 June 1815. Small 4to, pp. [86] (most versos blank); original sheep notebook with red morocco label on upper board and ‘Waterloo’ written in ink underneath; extremities rubbed. A manuscript journal kept by an officer in the Guards during his time in Holland from before Napoleon’s first surrender and exile at Elba, to his return and the Hundred Days. It was probably a diary kept and written in the field, and it records contemporary reactions to Napoleon’s first capitulation, escape from Elba, and the renewed conflict between the Allies and France, as well as a day to day account of military life in Holland during the Napoleonic Wars, and interesting descriptions of various Dutch towns, such as Antwerp where the author describes visits to the ‘marché ou Grande Place’, the ‘salle d’anatomie’, and the botanical gardens. The author, whose fate is unknown but whose last entry is on 17 June, the day before the Battle of Waterloo, describes, in the run up to that action, the clashes at Charleroi, Quatres Bras and Ligny, ending with this description of the Duke of Wellington’s movements: ‘Our noble Duke could no longer hesitate as to what steps he should [take]. A corresponding retreat in the present instance was unavoidably necessary and the position of Waterloo was chosen by our brave commander by which means he completely covered Brussels and kept up his communication with Prince Blucher. Now all the army with the exception of the cavalry and the house artillery which were destined to cover the retreat began to march in column along this main road which passes through the village of Genappe in order to occupy the different parts of the position marked out for the respecting divisions. The enemy must undoubtedly have perceived our retreat although they did not at first attempt to pursue us, which indeed surprized us as they might have molested & harassed us much in our retreat, but it appears they only wished for the arrival of their cavalry which had been engaged the preceding day with their right wing at Ligny’. The author, despite identifying himself as an officer in the Foot Guards, is anonymous. In a rough list on the inside back cover he names Captains Talbot, Drummond and Hornby, and Lieutenants Wedgewood, Northmore, Hamilton and Baird, but their regiment is not mentioned. It is perhaps possible that he was killed at Waterloo which would explain his journal’s abrupt ending on 17 June.
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1397 Number 71: AUTOGRAPH LETTER
ILLUSTRATING NELSON’S INTELLIGENCE NETWORK NELSON, Horatio. An autograph letter, signed, to Major-General William Anne Villettes. Dated ‘Victory, April 18th 1804’. pp. [3]; Villettes’ docket on verso, reads ‘Lord Nelson 18th April 1804, Answered 18th May’; in ink, sometime folded for posting, slightly dust-soiled. Written while Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean fleet, a period of Nelson’s life which White describes as ‘by far the most important period in his professional career, during which he demonstrated his abilities as an all-round commander better than at any other time’ (White p. 294), this letter illustrates his management of the war in the Mediterranean, with its diplomatic and intelligence gathering requisites. Villettes, a Swiss born British Army officer whom Nelson had earlier described as ‘a most excellent officer’ (Nicolas I p. 393), was then based in Malta (1801–1807) and was commander-in-chief of the military forces in the Mediterranean. He and Nelson had been friends since 1794 when the two had participated in the siege of Bastia in Corsica, the former in charge of the military forces and the latter the naval command. In response to Villettes’ letters of 17 and 18 March, which include an extract from a letter by Hugh Elliot, British minister at Naples from 1803 to 1806, Nelson states that he would be unwilling to order an attack on Alexandria, without orders from home, adding: ‘a cutter is now in search of me’. He notes Russia was likely to enter the war soon (which it did in April 1805), making the neutrality of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia untenable, and noting that under such circumstances Villettes would be called upon to aid Naples. He also comments on the French naval and military force being gathered in Toulon and suggests that: ‘Egypt is probably their ultimate object, but this threat of invasion keeps near all our troops ashore’. ‘In the early nineteenth century there was no central naval intelligence service. Commanders-in-chief established their own local networks based on personal contacts, and the information gathering of their scouting ships. It is still a little-known area of naval history and, to date there has been very little in the way of detailed academic study of the fascinating, but necessarily rather shadowy, subject. One of the problems confronting historians hitherto has been the paucity of primary source material and this has applied to Nelson as much as to any of his contemporaries. As a result, this important aspect of his work, especially during his time as the Mediterranean commander-in-chief, has hardly featured at all in the various biographies’ (White p. 368). The regular correspondence Nelson maintained with Villettes was part of his intelligence gathering system and this letter provides a good example of how such a system worked. Not in Nicolas, The dispatches and letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson or White, Nelson: the new letters. The full text of the letter is available upon request.
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1396 Number 7:
AUGUSTINE, Saint. De civitate Dei; a complete bifolium (leaves not consecutive), double columns of 30 lines, rubric in red, initials touched red, scribal corrections, with a LARGE PENWORK INITIAL ‘Q’ in red and brown with foliate infill, the extension a dragon’s body with human head, opening the prologue to Book V, ‘Quoniam constat omnium rerum’; folded in reverse, light staining below initial, remnants of previous mount in lower margin and at inner corners. Each leaf measures approximately 350 x 250 mm (251 x 177 mm) Germany, ? Westphalia, c. 1300. A handsome bifolium from a large folio copy of St. Augustine’s greatest work, a vindication of Christianity against pagan critics. From the collection of the London bookseller Ifan Kyrle Fletcher (1905–1969). |
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1396 number 29: ILLUMINATED INITIAL from a manuscript Gradual or Antiphonal; initial ‘U’ painted in rose red with elaborate white tracery, the centre filled with coloured foliage and blue grapes, all against a richly burnished gold ground, square notation on red 4-line staves and one partial line of text written in brown ink in a gothic hand on the verso; cut to shape, one corner chipped, in fine condition. 90 x 90 mm Italy, ? Ferrara, c. 1475. The stylized decoration and use of bright colours, including the deep blue grape motif, recalls the art of Ferrara at the end of the third quarter of the 15th century. Compare, for example, an initial in a Bible painted for the Este family by Taddeo Crivelli (active from 1451, died 1479) which is now in Modena (Este Library, Ms. V. G. 12; see M. Salmi, Italian Miniatures, 1954, pl. LIII). Compare also the similar initial in a slightly later manuscript (Stralsund, Stadtarchiv, Ms. IV. 290; see E. Rothe, Buchmalerei aus Zwolf Jahrhunderten, 1965, p. 270, pl. 129). |
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1396 Number 64:
RAYMOND OF PEÑAFORT. Summa de matrimonio, tit. 13–16; a complete leaf, double columns of 51 lines, ruled with plummet, written in dark brown ink in a minuscule gothic bookhand, initials in red and blue with contrasting penwork, paragraph marks in red or blue, headlines in alternate red and blue letters; a few tiny holes, slightly stained and creased from use in a binding, but perfectly legible. 173 x 117 mm (130 x 82 mm) France (probably Paris), second half of 13th century. From a pocket-sized manuscript of Raymond of Peñafort’s Summa de poenitentia, doubtless for university use. In most extant manuscripts the Summa de matrimonio is included as the fourth and final book of the Summa de poenitentia, although it is generally thought to have been conceived as a separate work. That the present leaf comes from a manuscript of the Summa de poenitentia is indicated by the headline ‘L[iber] IIII’. Raymond’s Summa de matrimonio is essentially a revision – necessitated by the publication of the Decretals of Gregory IX in 1234 – of Tancred of Bologna’s work of the same title, composed c. 1211–13. The present leaf discusses the impediment of bond, the justice of the public good, affinity and the impossibility of intercourse. |
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