A Manual Of Siegecraft And Fortification

Ann Arbor, MI: University Of Michigan Press, 1968. First Edition. Small 4to. 184 pp. Bibliographical Essay. Translated, With An Introduction, By George A. Rothrock. 29 plates illustrating fort plans, plans of attack, etc. This work was originally published as "Memoire pour servir d'instruction dans la conduite des sieges et dans la defense des places" in Leiden, 1740. Blue cloth in illustrated dustjacket. A fine copy. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Seigneur de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban (1633 - 1707), was a French military engineer and Marshal of France under Louis XIV; he is generally considered the greatest engineer of his time, one of the most important in European military history and the undisputed master of siege warfare. "In this manual that Vauban wrote for the instruction of young military engineers, he explains his preference for sieges instead of field battles, outlines step by step the proper conduct of sieges and defenses, comments scathingly on the mistakes most refquently made in this sort of war, and sums up seventeenth-century expertise in such fundamental matters as the construction of mines to blow up enemy works and the fabrication of floating bridges." - dustjacket flap.