Fl. Vegetii Renati Viri illustris de re Militari libri quatuor. Sexti Iulii Frontini viri consularis de Stratagematis libri totidem. Aeliani de instruendis Aciebus liber unus. Modesti de vocabulis rei Militaris liber item unus. Item picturæ bellicæ cxx passim Vegetio adiectæ. Collata sunt omnia ad antiquos codices, maxime Budæi, quod testabitur Aelianus. [Vignette]

RA Collection: Book

Record number

07/4358

Imprint

Lutetiæ: apud Christianum Wechelum, sub scuto Basiliensi., Anno M.D.XXXII. decimo Kalendas Septembres.

Physical Description

[8], 279, [1] p.: illus.; 317 mm. (In sixes.)

General Note

Collation: a^4, A-Y⁶, Z⁸. The signatures and pagination include all the woodcut illustrations, many of which are full-page and printed on recto and verso.

[T.p.] - Rerum Et Verborum In Vegetio contentorum index ...; Index In Sextum Iulium Frontinum ... - [Text and illus. of Flavius Vegetius] - [Text of Frontinus]; Erratum - [Text and illus. of Aelian] - [Text of Modestus]; [Errata] - [Publisher's device].

Responsibility Note

The text, 'Modesti de vocabulis rei Militaris liber', has been attributed to Pomponius Laetus.

The illustrations are unsigned. R. Mortimer points out that most are copies of those used in Heinrich Steiner's Augsburg edition of 1529, which are themselves free copies of cuts used in the Erfurt edition printed by Hans Knappe in 1511.

References

Harvard College Library Department Of Printing And Graphic Arts Catalogue Of Books And Manuscripts Part I: French 16th Century Books Compiled by Ruth Mortimer ... Volume II (1964), no. 486, p.599; H. Elie, Chrétien Wechel, imprimeur à Paris [1954], p.192.

M. Jahns, Geschichte der Kriegswissenschaften (3 v., 1889-91).

Summary Note

The texts are all concerned with the theory of military organisation, strategy and tactics, or are critical accounts of their practice among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The woodcut illustrations show military machinery and siege engines. The title-page vignette shows a military conference outside a tent. The illustrations in the text of Aelian consist of letters arranged in tactical patterns. The text is also adorned with decorated initials.

Binding Note

16th-century calf; rebacked and recornered in 1989 by A. Wessely, red morocco spine-label lettered 'De Re Militari'. [Bound with one other.]

Subject

Armed forces - Armies - Military personnel - Military engineering - Military installations - Military vehicles - Siege artillery - Soldiers - Military history - Greece - Rome - Mediterranean Region - Europe - History
Essays - Manuals - Greece - Italy - Rome
Essays - Manuals - France - 16th century
Pictorial works - Woodcuts - France - 16th century

Contributors

Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris
Frontinus, Strategematicon libri
Aelian, Tactice theoria
Chrétien Wechel, bookseller, publisher
Anthony Wessely, binder