DE GHEYN II, Jacob.

by Jacob De Gheyn Ii

£17,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Very rare, a lovely copy in original Dutch vellum of one of the earliest editions, bar the presentation copies, of Jacob de Gheyn s splendid manual of infantry warfare, with 117 beautiful engraved plates showing soldiers wielding arquebuses, muskets and pikes, in excellent impressions, with strong lines and an even tone. The publishing history of this work is complicated, due largely to the work s immediate and immense success, with editions in Dutch, French, German, English and Danish published from 1607 in Amsterdam and the Hague. Cockle claims that the English edition was in fact the original (p. 65). In some copies of the 1607 Hague edition the date was changed in pen to 1608, which may be the true date of publication; another state exists with the date re-engraved to 1608 (Hollstein 3). The plates appear in two states, the earliest without numbering; in all editions except the presentation copies, the states of the plates change at random. In our copy, where almost all of the plates are in the second or third state, i.e. numbered and signed, the first plate appears in the second of three states, with number but no signature (supplied in ms.), while this copy also contains the first state of number 26 in the final series (number supplied in ms.), which in its second state was erroneously numbered 24. All the early editions used the same engraved title-page, with blank portions to accommodate paper tabs engraved with the required coats of arms, dedications or privileges. O

• Printing: first
• Binding: Hardcover

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