Second copy located of the second edition of an extremely rare work on 18th-century Central European military costumes. The work was first published in folio format in The Hague in 1742, with the title referring to the Central European soldiers in the service of the "Queen of Hungary" (meaning Maria Theresa (1717-1780), ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until 1780) and the "King of Prussia" (meaning Frederick II (the Great) in/of Prussia (1712-1786). The title of the present second edition refers to the "Emperor" and the "King of Prussia", most likely meaning Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (r. 1780-1790) and either King Frederick II (r. 1740-1786) or King Frederick William II (r. 1786-1797). Thus the second edition was probably published after 1780 and possibly in 1787. Two English/French editions were published in 1742 and 1743 in "London" (possibly meaning The Hague) by Guillaume Meyer.
The present copy contains 6 beautifully contemporary hand-coloured engravings of Central Europeans in their military costumes. They show: 1. Hallas Peter, a Colonel of a corps of Hungarian nobles, on horseback; 2. Captain of the Croats; 3. a Croat soldier; 4. a Slavonian (from a historical region in present-day Croatia); 5. an officer of the Ulans (also Uhlans, originally Lithuanian irregular cavalry, later generally meaning a lancer) in service of the King of Prussia; 6. ordinary Ulan (a lancer).
With the book plate of F.C. Koch on the inside of the front wrapper. Wrappers slightly frayed and slightly faded, minor foxing throughout, the title page is slightly browned. Otherwise in very good condition. STCN 240071050 (1 copy); WorldCat 894593905 (1 copy, same as STCN); cf. for the first edition: Lipperheide 2224; Colas 2410.