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an old book with a brown cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old black and white book with a picture of a man riding a horsean old book with a picture of a coat of arms on ita drawing of a plan of a house and a garden
ALDE

163 - FOSSÉ (Charles-Louis de). A Soldier’s Ideas on the Deploymen…
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
Sale commission
Description
FOSSÉ (Charles-Louis de). A Soldier’s Ideas on the Deployment of Troops Entrusted to Young Officers in the Defence and Attack of Small Outposts. Paris, François-Ambroise Didot for Alexandre Jombert, 1783. 2 parts in one quarto volume, marbled calfskin, decorated spine, speckled edges (contemporary binding). First edition of this treatise on military defence and attack strategy. It draws on concrete examples set on a plain, at a ford, on a bridge, in a castle or a village, etc. The work concludes with an interesting ‘Précis for the representation of military plans’, dealing with the colours specific to the wash-drawing of plans and the procedure for using them, and with a short treatise on the ‘Construction of Military Perspective’. This book is particularly notable for its colour-engraved illustrations, whose ‘engraving and printing […] bear witness to great technical progress and place this work amongst the first to be illustrated in colour in the 18th century’ (Kaucher). It comprises eleven fold-out maps engraved in pointillist style by Louis-Marin Bonnet after the author’s drawings. Louis-Marin Bonnet (1736–1793) perfected the pencil-style engraving technique in the 1770s: the instructions given by Fossé for the washes, in the last two treatises of this work, are taken into account for the colour printing of these engravings. Bonnet claims to have invented the process, describing himself as ‘the first engraver of this kind’; in fact, he improved upon the process created by his master, Demarteau. Nevertheless, Bonnet perfected the two-pencil print (black enhanced with white) and the miniature- or pastel-style print, which made him a direct rival to the Gautier-Dagoty family. An attractive copy from a fine print run. The dedicatory epistle to the Duke of Châtelet is in the first state, with the vignette bearing his coat of arms engraved in colour. From the library of the Château de Cormes, with ex-libris stamp. Some loss to the headbands and at two corners; a slight tear on the back cover. Brunet, II, 1354 – Kaucher, no. 352.
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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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