January 2, 2012
1589: EXCEEDING RARE FIRST EDITION of the earliest known treatise on fortification in English
1589: EXCEEDING RARE FIRST EDITION of the earliest known treatise on fortification and military engineering in English.
A spy under the famous Elizabethan spymaster Francis Walsingham
A key scientific source for Marlowe’s Famous Tamburlaine- a milestone of Elizabethan drama
No complete copies with the 2 rare fold out plates present in 50+ years of auction records
The Book:
Fortification–Ive, Paul (d. 1604) The practise of fortification: wherein is shewed the manner of fortifying in all sorts of scituations, with the considerations to be used in delining, and making of royal frontiers, skonces, and renforcing of ould walled townes. Imprinted at London, By T. Orwin, for T. Man, and T. Cooke, 1589. BOUND WITH… [Fortification–Ive, Paul (d. 1604) ; Fourquevaux, Raimond de Beccarie de Pavie, baron de, 1509-1574.] Instructions for the warres. Amply, learnedly, and politiquely, discoursing the method of militarie discipline. Originally written in French by that rare and worthy generall, Monsieur William de Bellay, Lord of Langey, Knight of the order of Fraunce, and the Kings lieutenant in Thurin. Translated by Paule Iue, Gent. At London : Printed [by Thomas Orwin], for Thomas Man, and Tobie Cooke, 1589. (Notes: Not in fact by Du Bellay, but by Raimond de Beccarie de Pavie, baron de Fourquevaux.) Small 4to., 19 cm x 13.5 cm. [4], 40 p., [2] folded woodcut plates, [20], 312: Signatures: 2A-2D⁴ 2F⁴ 2G² // A-B⁴ b² C (wanting C1-2) -X⁸ Y⁴ . Note: 2 pages of text lacking in the second work; C1-2. Early calf, partly restored. The extremely rare fold out plates are present as depicted. These plates are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book and the most technically accomplished by the inconsistent standards of Elizabethan printing. Internally, occasional minor dampstaining, generally good. No complete copies with the 2 rare fold out plates present in 50+ years of auction records; only the Macclesfield sale had a sammelband copy of the 2nd ed L: Felix Kingston for Toby Cooke, 1597 (See; Sotheby’s, Oct 30, 2007, lot 3492, $8,320) Provenance: Lord Fitzwilliam, Baron of Milton in the County of Northampton. This family claim descent from William the Conqueror. [SOLD]
This extremely rare Elizabethan treatise combines the practical engineering knowledge gained in the campaigns in the Low Countries with the modern fortification techniques pioneered by the great Italians, most notably Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Macchiavelli. Ive likely worked as a spy for the famous Elizabethan spymaster Francis Walsingham, the Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590. As an interesting aside, it is recorded that when Ive died in Ireland in 1604 he requested that his body be buried at Castle Park “so deep that the wolves and dogs do not scrape it up again.”
The Practise of Fortification also has great literary importance; Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, which was a milestone in Elizabethan drama and one of the first popular successes of the London stage, contains passages, some taken verbatim, from Ive’s Fortification (likely having seen a copy a manuscript prepared for publication in Walsingham’s care). As a specific example, Tamburlaine’s speech instructing his sons in the art of war in Act III, Scene 2 appears to be directly lifted from Ive’s work. The passages underscore Elizabethan perceptions and fears of Turkish military strength and strategy.
