TITLE CONTINUED: De nouveau reveu, corrige, & augmente par l'autheur. 1640, first published in 1629, 8vo, approximately 170 x 100mm , 6¾ x 4 inches, French text, added engraved pictorial title page of Neptune and Mars, fireworks in the background, dated 1629, 6 full page illustrations, 38 text engravings, both illustrations and diagrams, some decorated initials and headpieces, pages: [10], 1-277, [5], pages 136 and 139 misnumbered 116 and 137 respectively, collation: A-S8, T4, T4 a blank, bound in contemporary speckled calf, raised bands to spine, gilt decoration to spine, pale red speckling to edges. Binding slightly worn, small neat repair to top of spine, gilt slightly worn, pitting to sides, small water stain to top of engraved title, a larger one to top of letterpress title (see image), a very faint small intermittent stain to upper margin throughout, very faint half page water stain on S8 - T3, small closed tear to margin of 2 pages, neatly repaired, very small blank corner missing on S2, verso T3 lightly browned. A very good sturdy copy. Francis Malthus (d.1658), of English origin was an engineer in the royal French army and a captain general of mines and sapping. He was responsible for the French use of the mortar beginning in 1634. See: Chris Philip, A Bibliography of Firework Books, page 91, M 040.5; Spaulding and Karpinski, Early Military Books in the University of Michigan Libraries, page 19; John Eliot Hodgkin, Rariora, Volume 3, Books on Fireworks section, page 16-17; Maurice Cockle, A Bibliography of Military Books to 1642, page 93, No.118 referring to the English edition of 1629: "This work, though in advance of anything so far written on the subject in English, does not attain to the standard of Thibourel and Appier. Yet it is with foreign treatises it must be weighed, for Malthus received his training in pyrotechnics abroad. It was Malthus who about the year 1634 introduced the mortar into the French service." 4 copies of this 1640 edition listed in Library Hub Discover. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.
