Guibert - General Essay On Tactics. 1773, 2 Volumes, Period Bindings, 27 Folding Plates

[GUIBERT (Jacques Antoine Hippolyte)] - General essay on tactics, preceded by a Discourse on the current state of politics and military science in Europe; with the plan of a work entitled Political and military France. London, Libraires Associés, 1773; in-4, LI-156 + 12 plates 128 pp. + 15 plates, full speckled calf bindings of the time, spine decorated with 5 raised bands, edges painted in red, title pieces in green morocco. Very beautiful bookplate De la Fare. Complete with 27 plates. Paper a little yellowed, but no foxing. Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, Count of Guibert, born in 1743 and died in 1790, is a French general officer, tactician and writer, member of the French Academy. In 1770, he published in London Essai général de tactique which was a success in England and Germany and was even translated into Persian. It is considered one of the best essays on war written by a soldier during this period. It was widely commented on in the salons until 1871. Independently of technical questions, his enlightened point of view was widely taken up throughout Europe, especially in the period 1763-1792. He thus foresaw the imminent revolution in the art of war, a revolution that the tacticians themselves had not seen coming, like military service; a prediction fulfilled almost to the letter twenty years after Guibert's death.