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an old leather book with ornate designs on the front and sidesan old book with a black and white image on itan old book with writing on it sitting on top of a table
ALDE

48 - ROCCA (Bernardino). On the Practice and Conduct of the Art a…
See original version (French)

Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
Sale commission
Description
ROCCA (Bernardino). On the Practice and Conduct of the Art and Affairs of War. Paris, Nicolas Chesneau, 1571. – On military operations and stratagems: and on the errors that sometimes arise in their planning and execution, or the true portrait of a perfect army general. Ibid., 1571. 2 parts in one in-4 volume, fawn calfskin, wide border set with gilt fillets and framed by a black wax band, ground strewn with small gilt trefoils, large azure-coloured metalwork in the spandrels and a medallion in the centre, gilt initials in the central reserve, spine richly decorated with gilt and azure horseshoes enhanced with black wax, decorated cups, gilt and chiselled edges with a scroll motif (contemporary binding). First French edition of this important Italian treatise on the art of war. The first part was translated from the Italian by François de Belleforest (1530–1583), the author of the *Cosmographie universelle*. It is a translation of the second and third parts of the *Governo della militia*, published by Bernardino Rocca (1515–1587) in Venice in 1570. It forms a comprehensive treatise on military tactics, in six books, explaining ‘how one ought to proceed in waging war, whether in the open countryside and in open battle, or in skirmishes; or in the assault on fortresses and the defence of towns; and how one may make the most of any danger that may arise in order to preserve the State’. The translator dedicated it to René Le Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson. The second part of the French edition is a partial translation of the first part of Rocca’s work, published in Venice in 1566 under the title *Imprese, stratagemi et errori militari*. It is the work of the historian and military man Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière (1541–1608), himself the author of important chronicles of the Wars of Religion. Complete copies of both parts are very rare, and exceedingly rare in fine condition. A copy fully repaired, with fine margins. A magnificent and rare contemporary Parisian binding decorated with a scattered pattern and azure irons, formerly painted in wax, commissioned for a refined collector. The central oval bears the initials T. K., the owner of which we have been unable to identify. The second part contains extensive handwritten marginalia from the period. A handwritten note on the second endpaper: ‘Mesprise la Mort’. From the library of the Thomassin de Bienville family of Champagne, with an 18th-century coat-of-arms bookplate. Binding discreetly restored; one joint cracked; faint water-stain at the bottom of the first few leaves; pinholes and minor worm damage at the beginning and end of the volume. USTC, 22809 and 899.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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