TWO FASCINATING AND RARE ILLUSTRATED RENAISSANCE MILITARY BOOKS. Il primo libro del trattato militare… nel quale si contengono varie regole, & diversi modi, per fare con l'ordinanza battaglie nuove di fanteria. Con due tariffe, l'una delle ordinanze, & l'altra delle battaglie quadre perfette per ogni faccia: & molti altri ricordi utilissimi ad ogni buon soldato [ BOUND WITH] Tre quesiti in dialogo sopra il fare batterie, fortificare una città, et ordinar battaglie quadrate, con una disputa di precedenza tra l'arme & le lettere.

FASCINATING AND RARE ILLUSTRATED RENAISSANCE MILITARY BOOKS

FIRST EDITIONS. 4to, 2 works in 1 volume, ff. [6], 65, [1] and [4], 68, [2]. Roman letter, some Italic. Printer's devices on both t-ps, repeated on final leaf of first work, which bears register and second imprint at colophon. Numerous woodcut illustrations, some full-page, mostly throughout the first work, which includes also a portrait of the author on the verso of the title leaf and a vignette headpiece on dedicatory letter showing the coat of arms of Duke of Parma Ottavio Farnese. Large historiated initials. Contemporary limp vellum, early title handwritten to spine, remains of ties, original endpapers. Sporadic minimal age toning, little vellum loss at corner of front cover. An attractive volume, crisp and clean, containing two rare illustrated first editions.

Cicogna was a soldier and man of letters from Verona. Little is known about his life. His innovative work contains numerous woodcut illustrations of military strategy and battle tactics. In particular, many of these interesting illustrations show the arrangement of infantry troops and their arrays, which was inspired by the Greek and Roman classics on the art of warfare. This kind of military woodcuts that show tactics and army formations on the battlefield influenced later historiographers who illustrated their works on the topic with similar images.

Mora was a military and engineering architect, born in Bologna in 1536. Captain in Zakynthos in 1569, he fought against Huguenots, Turks and Muscovites. He was colonel and governor in Poland from 1579. He wrote also Il soldato (1570) and Il cavaliere (1589). The book is dedicated to the Duke of Florence Cosimo de' Medici. The beginning of the first dialogue (Di far battarie) is linked with the debate about the controversial predominance of the military profession over the legal profession. Mora deals with artillery, ballistics, explosive charges, resistance to the impact of bullets. The second dialogue (Del fortificare) discusses the types of fortification and establishes which one is the best. The third (Di por battaglie quadrate) begins with considering the possibility of "perpetual peace". Mora thinks such peace could only be secured by bringing the war "to Asia, Africa, and in many parts of Europe against the infidels, & the enemies of God" (p. 54r), among which are included even those people who profess "our Catholic faith" (p. 54v).

Two auction results only for the first book, no result at all for the second one (RBH).

First work: Riccardi, I, 353-354; Cockle 536; EDIT16 CNCE 12518. Second work: EDIT16 CNCE 40831.