[Manuscrit de fortifications]

In-4, 41 finely hand-colored folding plates, contemporary ivory vellum with ties, around 1730.

251 x 209 mm.

Vauban, (S. Leprêtre de). (1633-1707). Bélidor, Bernard Forest de (1697-1761). Handwritten and colored manuscript created after Vauban's death on Fortifications, the Attack and the Defense of Places.

“Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, worked on 300 old fortresses, built 33 new ones, directed 53 sieges, and took part in 140 actions of strength. Moreover, he executed a multitude of civil works, any one of which would suffice for the glory of an ordinary engineer: the canals of Saint-Omer, the Bruche, and Neuf-Brisach, the piers of Honfleur; the improvement of the ports of Saint-Valéry, Ambleteuse, Antibes, Dunkirk; the magnificent aqueduct of Maintenon; studies for the junction of the Saône and the Loire, etc.
Generally, Vauban’s fame in the science of fortification is somewhat exaggerated by attributing exclusively to him the revolution that occurred since the invention of artillery. As often occurs with all great men, public opinion, through a kind of enthusiastic synthesis, credits him not only with what he truly created but also with advances that actually belong to his predecessors and even his successors. Not to mention foreign engineers, notably the Italians, Errard under Henry IV, de Ville, and Pagan had already brought significant progress to military architecture.”

But no one had considered the defense of the country from a higher perspective than Louis XIV's engineer. His true merit lies especially in the sagacity with which he linked the art of fortification to strategy, searched for the relationships between strongholds, drew from the very land and water a simple and low-cost defense, coordinated the fortresses according to the nature of the terrain, of the country, the routes by land and water, etc.—all aspects unknown before him.”

Vauban's treatise on fortifications was not printed until 1737.

Composition: 41 plates: 17 plates related to Vauban-style bastions – 1 plate regarding the underground chambers – 2 plates on powder magazines – 3 plates about barracks (plans and elevations) – 4 plates on town houses with entrance gates (plans and elevations) – 4 plates concerning bridges – 1 plate about turrets – 7 plates on Vauban-style bastions – 2 plates on terraces and covered walkways – Atlas from a course for military schools on fortifications, inspired by The Science of Engineers by Bernard Bélidor, published in 1729. A number of the plates indeed derive from this work and are nearly identical. Bernard Bélidor is specifically mentioned: “Plan of the new system of Mr. Bernard Bélidor with detached bastions.” (Plate 16).

Bélidor began studying mathematics and the theory of fortifications at a very young age and caught the attention of the Duke of Orléans, then Regent. In 1722, at the age of 22, he was appointed professor at the newly created artillery school in La Fère (Aisne). In 1729, he published The Science of Engineers in the Management of Fortification and Civil Architecture Works, in which he aimed to apply mathematics to the construction of fortresses and supporting structures. In 1731, he published The French Bombardier, in which, for the first time, he provided tables allowing one to accurately determine the trajectory of
bombs.