[DÉPÔT DE LA GUERRE.]

Mémorial topographique et militaire, rédigé au dépôt général de la guerre; imprimé par ordre du ministre.

Paris, l’Imprimerie de la République, an XI [i.e. 1802]. Numbers 1–3 bound in two volumes, 8vo (205x 130 mm), pp. [ii], 183, [1, errata]; xi, [i, blank], 201; [xxiv, 201, [3], with seven folding plates (including one large coloured map); contemporary dark blue morocco, the covers with elaborate gilt borders, the gilt globe emblem of the Dépôt de la guerre in each corner and the monogram ‘JC’ in the centre; all edges gilt; pink silk endpapers; by Bozérian; a superb copy. First editions. This copy with the bookplate of Gabriel Cottreau, the French Napoleonic historian and bookcollector, who has inscribed on front flyleaf of vol. I ‘Je pense que les initiales sur la relieure sont celles de Jacques Clarke ministre de la guerre en 1807 et années suivantes. G. Cottreau’.The first three numbers in a series of seven issued by the Dépôt de la guerre at the request of Alexandre Berthier, France’s minister of war between 1800 and 1807. Berthier, who himself wrote the ‘Exposé des travaux du Dépôt général de la guerre pendant le cours de l’an 10’ issued in the second volume, hoped that with the publication of this series the army and the nation could benefit from the work of the Dépôt de la guerre.‘Under the formidable Secretary of War, Louvois (d. 1691), the important records of the Ministry [of War] were preserved and sorted. These archives, called the Dépôt de la guerre, soon moved to Les Invalides, after first being stored at Louvois’ residence . . . . Since they contained numerous maps and engineering documents, the historical archives became closely allied with the topographical and cartographical services’ (Lynn, ‘The publications of the Section historique, 1899–1915’ Military Affairs, 37/2, April 1973, p. 56). Reflecting this, the first number covers the science of topography, with a history of surveying as well as practical instructions for the production of military maps and charts, including calculation tables. The second provides a detailed history of the art of war, analysing the ideas of military thinkers ranging from such people as Polybius, Sallust and Julius Ceasar, to Guicciardini, Lloyd, Mesnil-Durand, Guibert and Maizeroy. It includes a bibliography of those works considered most important on the subject of war. The third number returns to the subject of cartography by providing a comperative study of the field in different countries, and between the periods before and after the publication of Cassini’s map of France. This number also contains a catalogue of those maps and charts considered most useful to the military.Brunet III 1609.

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