17 - GOLDMANN (Nicolaus).

GOLDMANN (Nicolaus). The New Fortification. [Leiden], Bonaventure and Abraham Elzevier, 1645. Folio, (16) pp., including the engraved frontispiece title page, 224 pp., with numerous copperplate engravings in the text. Marbled calfskin, decorated ribbed spine (contemporary binding). Caps torn off, headbands worn with leather losses, leather losses roughly restored. First French edition of this important treatise on military architecture, published by the Elzeviers, translated from the Latin edition published in 1643. Nicolas Goldmann (1611–1665), a German mathematician and engineer based in Leiden, where he taught military architecture, was one of the leading theorists of bastioned fortification in the 17th century. The work is richly illustrated with 52 different copper-engraved figures of fortifications, several of which are repeated in the text to accompany the demonstrations. It is preceded by a beautiful frontispiece title page engraved by Adriaen Matham. (Willems, 587.) Old water stains in places. Ex-libris SL. Old handwritten ex-libris, partially scraped off on the back cover.