VILLE, Antoine de.

by Antoine de Ville

£4,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Second edition, first published 1628, of Antoine de Ville s sumptuously illustrated book of military architecture, from the library of John Evelyn (1620-1706), English polymath, diarist, horticulturalist and bibliophile. De Ville begins with a series of methods for geometrical calculation of various polygons, as well as descriptions of the components of modern fortification, before relating their application to regular and irregular forts, and those with less than six bastions at the corners, which included fortified ports, fortifications on bridges, etc. The second and third books contain De Ville s theories for attacking and defending fortifications and fortified towns, with historical examples, including mounting and repelling surprise attacks, fighting long sieges, conducting sorties, mining and countermining, destroying pontoon bridges, etc. He also gives advice on suppressing seditions and revolts . De Ville s work was innovative in regard to the methodology that he set out for tracing the arrangement of fortifications, according to fixed figures for the base side of a polygon, at either 150 or 180 paces. His genuinely original contribution, however, related to his calculations for the bastions at the corners. Essentially, he developed the Italian Renaissance design of fortifications into a science. The plates depict birds-eye designs for forts as well as perspectival views of forts within imaginary landscapes, often combined with geometrical diagrams, which are in othe

• Binding: Hardcover

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