The only copy known

Isla, Lázaro de la. Jesus. Breve tratado da arte da artelharia, e geometria, & artificios de fogo [...].

$3,805.00

Exceedingly rare Portuguese edition of the slim treatise on the "art of artillery" by the Genovese artillerist de la Isla, who served in the Spanish Armada. First published in Spanish in 1595/96 by Madrigal in Madrid ("Iesus. Breve tratado del arte de artillería, geometría y artificios de fuego"). The first edition to appear in Portugal was one with Spanish text in 1609 (Lisbon, Vicente Alvarez). To provide a textbook for the training of engineers and artillerymen in Portugal, it was translated and reissued in the present edition by José Homem de Menezes.

Bookplate of the Portuguese architect and collector José Maria Nepomuceno (1836-95) to front pastedown; his stamp to verso of title-page. Later in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research.

Light waterstain throughout with some red discoloration of the upper margin from the red top edge. Never seen at auction; no library copies of the Portuguese edition traceable anywhere; not in OCLC/WorldCat.