Vegetius, De re militari, [Erfurt, c. 1512], woodcuts only, later vellum

VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS

De re militari. [Erfurt: Hans Knappe, c. 1512]

folio (311 x 215mm.), 195 full-page woodcut illustrations, later limp vellum, manuscript title on flyleaf "Demostrazio matematiche e militari di Monsieur Desmaretz", occasional dampstaining, a few leaves wormed and stained in gutter, pastedowns browned, binding slightly soiled

A publication containing the fine woodcut illustrations to Vegetius but without the actual text; Hans Knappe of Erfurt had previously issued an edition of the text in German translation in 1511, with most of the woodcuts (VD16 V465), but this edition contains an additional seventy odd illustrations not issued with that text. Some of the woodcuts are signed HK (Knappe) and MS (Melchior Schwarreberg).

The woodcuts are partly based on an earlier illustrated Vegetius printed in Augsburg in around 1475. They contain anachronistic illustrations of cannons and soldiers in contemporary costume, indicating that the book was intended for practical rather than academic use.

LITERATURE:

VD16 ZV 9905 (listing 2 copies, Munich and Schweinfurt only)

PROVENANCE:

purchased from Sotheran's, December 1936