“THE GLORY THAT ONE ACQUIRES THROUGH ARMS”: MARSHAL PUYSEGUR’S ILLUSTRATED ART OF WAR, 1749 FIRST QUARTO EDITION

(MILITARY) PUYSEGUR, Jacques Francois de Chastenet de. Art de la Guerre, par Principes et par Règles… Mis au jour par M. le Marquis de Puységur son fils. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1749. Two volumes. Quarto, contemporary full French marbled calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, tan morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers. $2500.

First quarto edition of Puységur’s illustrated Art of War, with engraved vignette title pages and 51 folding engraved plates. A very handsome copy in fine contemporary French calf-gilt.

Marshal Jacques François de Chastenet de Puységur (1656-1743) served with distinction as the most experienced Marshal of Louis XIV. A lifetime of experience combined with devoted study of the classic texts on warfare went into his Art de la Guerre. His son, who also became a Marshal of France, published his father’s classic on war posthumously. Volume II analyzes a hypothetical battle staged between the Seine and the Loire Rivers, and discusses several actual campaigns conducted by Puységur’s predecessor, the Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal General of France (Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne). Published the previous year in a folio edition. Brunet IV, 989. Contemporary ownership signatures of Auguste Comte de Lewenhaupt and Adolph Lewenhaupt (inked through) on title pages; occasional ink marginalia in an early hand.

Fine condition, most desirable in lovely contemporary French calf-gilt bindings.