Books and Manuscripts

Amsterdam: Robert de Baudous, sold by Henry Laurens, 1608 (altered in plate from 1607 to 1608). Three parts in one volume. First edition in French. Small folio. (v), 42 pl.; (iv), 43 pl.; (4), 32 pl. Illustrated with engraved vignette title-page and 117 engraved plates. Early 20th-century full brown calf, elaborately stamped in blind, spine lettered in gilt, front and rear boards rubbed, front and rear joints rubbed, bottom front joint split, foot of spine chipped; all edges gilt; by Ch. Weill, Orléans; title-page trimmed, laid down, and with losses filled-in in MS.; most text and plate leaves repaired along edges; five-inch open tear in middle of text of "Le mousquet" leaf, but with no loss; five-inch repaired closed tear traversing bottom of plate 29 in third part; in quarter calf slip case. Riling 69; Lipperheide 2058; Cockle 79

Jacob de Gheyn's celebrated work on the use of arms, featuring 42 engraved plates on the use of the arquebuss, 43 engraved plates on the use of the musket, and 32 engraved plates on the use of the pike. The first edition appeared in English in 1607. "These plates were reissued in 1608 with letterpress in French, in Danish, and in German..." (Cockle 79).

From the library of bibliographer, bookseller, and arms collector, Raymond L.J. Riling (1896-1974), and with his illustrated book-plate on front paste-down.