MILITARY MANUAL

Puga y Rojas, Tomás de: Compendio militar, que demuestra a todos los professores de la guerra, oficiales, y soldados, lo tocante á sus exercicios; assi en Campaña, y expugnaciones de toda suerte de Plaças, como en sus defensas; forma de Esquadronar, y Fortificar, assi el Real, como las Plaças; con varias prevenciones Militares; tanto para la Guerra de tierra, quanto para el Govierno Militar, y Polytico de la Mar. Impresso en Quesada à costa del mismo autor [1707].

One of two issues of this War of the Spanish Succession-era military manual. The material includes explanation of shouted commands and terms of fortification, discussion of how to storm a spot, diagrams (made up using letterpress) showing battlefield formations, a treatise on military privileges, and a discourse on the art of war, which the author argues is part of legal science. Puga includes fourteen pages of prefatory poetry, and -in letterpress borders - short mottoes which encompass the contents of each chapter. He was a lawyer and a colonel in the infantry.

Details

4to., pp. [52], 140, 44, 56, 42, 26, 57 [1], 29 [1]. With frontispiece engraving of Philip V by Juan Ruiz Luengo, Granada; and (before antepenultimate leaf of prelims.) leaf with engraved armorial to verso. Woodcut ornamental border to title-page, woodcut typographical decoration, woodcut initials. Four pages with typographical presentation of battlefield formations. Light age-yellowing, f.f.e.p. recently replaced, a very good copy in contemporary stiffened vellum, title inked to spine, remains of ties (tears to binding but good). Occasional light stamps of Biblioteca [?]Seggica, Alcala de Henares.

CCPB000347979-X (one of two issues). OCLC (04/16) shows three copies in North America (Minnesota, Michigan and West Point); COPAC shows none in UK libraries.