De l'attaque et de la defense des places...The Hague, Pieter de Hondt, 1737. With: (2) VAUBAN, Sébastien le Prestre de. De l'attaque et de la defense des places... tome second. ...The Hague, Pieter de Hondt, 1742.2 works in 1 volume. Large 4to (26.5 x 20.5 cm). Ad 1 with 36 folding engraved plates and ad 2 with 11 folding engraved plates. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine.

[1], [1 blank], [18], 216; [1], [1 blank], [14], "180" [=188], [34] pp.First edition of Vauban's treatises on siegecraft and military mining. Of all the 17th- and 18th-century books "on military technology, no works had greater influence or enjoyed greater prestige than those of Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the great military engineer of the reign of Louis XIV" (Guerlac). Although a highly practical man and not a theoretician, Vauban had written down the secrets of his success in the building and capturing of fortresses between 1669 and 1704. Vauban's strategic superiority could only remain if this information was kept secret, so his texts circulated only within a very select circle. After Vauban's death they were leaked. "By the time the treatises became available, Vauban's early readers must have been ready to believe that the text finally being made public did in fact contain incredible military secrets and have the power to make nations invincible. No other treatise of siegecraft had been surrounded by such secrecy" (DeJean). The first volume contained Vauban's treatise on the attack of fortified places, but the added part on defence was actually written by a colleague, seigneur Deshoulières (1621-1693). A second volume, published in 1742, contained Vauban's treatise on military mining and a general treatise on war.With library stamps. Binding slightly worn. Water stained throughout with some spots and a few small tears; otherwise still a good copy.l Dejean, Literary fortifications, pp. 34-36; Jähns, pp. 1419-1420, 1426-1429; Sloos, Warfare 03045; STCN (vol. 1: 4 copies; vol. 2: 5 copies); cf. Guerlac, "Vauban" in: Paret (ed.), Makers of modern strategy, pp. 64-90.