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Versterckte vesting, uytgevonden in velerley voorvallen, en geobserveert in dese laetste oorloogen, soo in de Vereenigde Nederlanden, als in Vranckryck, Duyts-lant, Italien, Dalmatien, Albanien, en die daer aengelegen landen.
Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1654. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. With an engraved title page and 8 double-page engraved plates in ad 1; ad 2 with Blaeus large woodcut device (armillary sphere with Chronos and Heracles) on the title page and a folding engraved plate.
With: (2) RUSE, Henrick. Aenwysinge der misverstanden van G. Medler, begaen in sijne 'Instructie van de fortificatien', in welck hy de sustenuen van H. Ruse in 't verstercken der hedendaeghse fortificatien, pooght te wederleggen.
Amsterdam, Joan Blaeu, 1658.
Contemporary vellum. [8], 53, [1], [2 blank]; 32 pp.
First edition of a basic manual on fortification by the Dutch officer Henrick Ruse, or Baron von Rusenstein (1624-1679). He was the first to break with the Dutch tradition in fortification and to introduce new elements based on his personal experiences serving in several armies abroad. Herewith he came into conflict not only with Gerard Melder, the head of the fortifications in the city of Utrecht but also with Freitag in Germany. Melder answered with a manual of his own, and attacked Ruse in his Korte en klare instructie from 1658. Ruse, in his turn, retorted with the Aenwijsinghe der misverstanden van G. Melder, which is added here to the main work.
With a crossed-out ex libris inscription on the recto of the second flyleaf ("ex libris Paul....?") and an owner's inscription in the bottom margin of the title page of ad 1 "Caroli Calcagnini", probably the Italian jurist and cardinal Carlo Leopoldo Calcagnini (1679-1746). Some occasional foxing. Otherwise in good condition. Ad 1: Sloos, Warfare 08034; STCN (2 copies); ad 2: Sloos, Warfare 08039; STCN (3 copies, with slightly different fingerprint); cf. Jähns, pp. 1339-1341 on the works of both Ruse and Melder; Berlin Kat. 3530; Duffy, Siege Warfare, p. 104; Jordan, Bibliographie zur Geschichte des Festungbaues, 3251 & 3252.
