MAROLOIS, Samuel with GIRARD, Albert and HEXAM, Henry

by Samuel with GIRARD, Albert and HEXAM, Henry Marolois

£9,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

.Very rare first English edition described by Cockle 139 as the first work on fortification printed in English in which the subject is treated scientifically. Samuel Marolois (1572-1627) was a Dutch mathematician and military engineer. It was first published in French in 1614 within Marolois s Oeuvres Math ématicques and translated to English in this edition by Henry Hexam. Marolois was one of the first writers to publish the abbreviation Sin E to denote the sine of an angle. He fortified cities by using geometrical calculations which can be seen in the extensive foldout engravings. Examples include the city of Coevorden which utilised a heptagon shape. He is considered to be the creator of the Dutch route or Fausse Braye, a parapet which is traced parallel to the enceinte (the enclosing wall) of a fortified place between the enceinte rampart and main ditch. This meant that the attacking army would have had to overpower the first enceinte before advancing onto the main rampart. Marolois was the amongst the first to write poliorcetic works (books about the siege of cities); these were used widely in Holland and Europe until advances in artillery towards the end of the 17.th. century outmoded them. .This work was published during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), where novel military models were being developed. Because the fighting was occurring in the Netherlands, they were especially adapted to mud flats, alluvial and coastal terrains, and harbours defended by sluices, flood

• Binding: Hardcover

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