First edition of a delightfully illustrated manual on swimming. It is one of the earliest works on the subject, being preceded, according to the author's preface, only by the works of the Englishman Everard Digby and the Dutchman Nicholas Wijnman.
Melchisedech Thevenot (ca. 1620-1692), was a French traveller and learned book collector. He published collections of voyages, and wrote several curious treatises, including a Tartar grammar and this illustrated guide to swimming. It was translated into English in 1699, but the next French edition did not appear until 1769, when swimming became more widely popular; it remained the standard manual for the rest of the 18th century.
A few occasional spots and the binding slightly rubbed. With old owner's comments in a neat hand in ink on first free endpaper and the plates numbered by hand in ink. Fine copy of the rare first edition. Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration 56; Thomas, Swimming (1904), p. 180; WorldCat (9 copies).