Essai méthodique et historique sur la tactique navale. Orné de gravures, en quatre parties. [TWO VOLUMES].

Paris, Firmin Didot, Dezauches, Bossange, Baudelot et Eberhart; Amsterdam, D. J. Changuion & Gabriel Dufour, 1791-96.. Hardcover. .. Four parts in two volumes, bound in one. Crown quarto (290 x 215mm). With a total of 38 folding engraved plates with multiple images to each, totalling 156 images. Vol. I, Part I: Pp. viii, 157, (2) Errata (verso blank). Plus 22 folding plates, numbered I-XXII; Volume II, Parts II-IV: Pp. vii, (i) Errata, 128. Plus 16 folding plates, numbered XXIII-XXXVI including XXVII bis and XXVIII bis. With Supplements and Observations. Engraved device to title, woodcut head- and tail-pieces. Half-title present.HARDCOVER, bound in contemporary plain blue paper-covered boards, rubbed and chipped in places, floral shelf label to spine, few sporadic institutional stamps. In fine condition, preserved in the original state, wide-margined, untrimmed. Excellent copy practically unused, still entirely unopened. ~ First French edition. Very rare. The English "An essay on naval tactics, systematical and historical, with explanatory plates, in four parts" first appeared in 1790 and went through 13 editions until 1827, which are held now by 52 institutional libraries worldwide. It was translated into French by Daniel Lescallier (1743-1822 ). ~ John Clerk of Eldin (1728-1812) was a Scottish merchant, naval author, artist, geologist and landowner. He is best remembered for his influential writings on naval tactics in the Age of Sail. He was a prolific, noted etcher and it is believed that the fine plates in this work were made by him. In this work he expounds on the tactic known as "cutting the line". This involved sailing into the enemy's line of ships and attacking the rear ships with the whole force of the fleet. Horatio Nelson used several sentences from Clerk's work in his orders to the British fleet before the Battle of Trafalgar. There is a certain amount of discrepancy regarding the publishing date of the second volume. While several bibliographies, mostly citing each other, tend to date it at 1798, the Bibliothèque nationale de France dates it at 1797. The volume itself, however, is dated "L'An VI" which, following the first volume of 1791, can only be 1796. It is most interesting to note that "Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne" (Volume 61, 1836) claims that the first French edition appeared in 1797, and that "une seconde édition a paru depuis". I-3