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140 LARGE MANUSCRIPT BATTLE PLANS IN COLOUR
[BATTLE PLANS]. P., F. M. Desseins, ou Delineations des Batailles et Campements. Faites et formez des Turcs et contre eux, de meme des Puissances Chretiennes de la plupart de l’Europe à Savoir, des Empereurs Romains, et de leurs hauts Allier, du grand Czaar de Moscovie, des Couronnes de l’Angleterre, Dennemarc, Suede, Pologne, Espagne et de la France gagnées ou perdües ou Seleument formez depuis l’an: 1620. jusqu’ à 1716.
Dresden, [ca. 1716]. Oblong Royal folio (31 x 58 cm). Manuscript in pen & ink and watercolour, with a calligraphic title-page, 8-page index and 140 (of 153) numbered battle plans and plans of army camps (6 folding and 134 full-page) for major continental European battles over a period of nearly a century. Modern half red morocco, marbled sides.
| Orders and Information | € 25000 |
An album of large manuscript battle plans and plans of army camps in colour, illustrating most of the major continental European battles of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, including armies commanded by King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden, King William III of England, Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Duke of Marlborough, and many others, including even Czarina Catherine I of Russia. It covers the Thirty Years' War, the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the wars of the Holy Roman Empire and Venice against the Ottoman Turks, the War of the Spanish Succession, and others. For each plan, the title generally gives the place and date of the battle or camp with the principal participants. This is followed by the names of the commander or commanders and usually his principal officers. The positions of the troops are indicated graphically, with colour-coded rectangles and flags indicating the allegiance, nationality or type of troop units. The names of the divisional commanders or the nationality of the troops is written below their symbols. The Turkish army defeated at the battle of St. Gotthard Abbey in Hungary in 1664 comprised 136,000 men in 32 divisions, each labelled with its ethnic group and the number of men (1000 to 10,000). A few plans also show fortifications and the topography of the surrounding lands, with rivers, hills, trees, etc. The compiler "F.M.P." is described as a Lieutenant at Dresden.
The production of the plans no doubt occupied some years, and the last digit of the date 1716 on the title-page may have been changed, but all the plans were presumably drawn around the time of the last battles included. Most of the paper is not watermarked, but a few (mostly folding) leaves are watermarked with large crossed keys without a shield or a C, V and reversed C monogram.
In modern cloth box. Lacking 13 of the original 153 plans. The folding flap of one plan has been damaged, reinforced and reattached, and the stained foot-margin of the title-page has also been reinforced. The other plans are in good or very good condition, with only minor stains, chips or tears, mostly marginal and none seriously affecting the plans or texts. An extensive set of large colour battle plans covering most of the major battles of seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Europe.
