Künstliche Waffenhandlung der Musqueten und Piquen oder Langen Spiessen...Maniement des Mousquets & Piques. Nuremberg: Peter Isselburg (Simon Halbmayer), 1620.

RARE EDITION, WITH FINE ENGRAVINGS

Title within engraved border, 38 engraved plates, each with two figures.

Oblong 4to (152 x 190m). [46]ff. 19th century diced calf, flat spine gilt (neat repair to upper joint).

Nuremberg: Peter Isselburg (Simon Halbmayer), 1620.

First edition of Isselburg's version of the Wapenhandeling, dedicated to Maurice of Nassau, with parallel German and French text. This set of fine engravings depicts the techniques for handling a musket and a pike. This edition is very rare with no copies in US libraries, and only the British Library copy located outside Germany and Switzerland.

"Small, convenient version of the [Gheyn's] Wapenhandeling, with two figures per engraving. One figure of an officer has been added to the first part" (Hoogendoorn).

Born in Cologne, Peter Isselburg, also called Eisselburg, Iselburg or Yselburg (1580-1630), was apprentice to Crispin de Passe and other Dutch artists, and from 1612 was active in Nuremberg as draughtsman, engraver, printer and publisher. He also taught Joachim von Sandrart and Hans Troschel and is described by the NDB as one of "the most important copper engravers of his time in Germany" (vol 10, pp. 201/2).

Occasional light foxing but generally very fresh.

Provenance: from the military library of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Lord Cottesloe (1867-1956).

VD17 23:277510Y (only HAB Wolfenbüttel, Göttingen, Weimar; another issue VD17 12:654151Z at BSB Munich only). OCLC adds Berlin Humbolt, Luzern Switzerland, and British Library only. No copies in US libraries.

Cockle 741. Klaas Hoogendoorn, Bibliography of the Exact Sciences in the Low Countries from ca. 1470 to the Golden Age (Brill, 2018), p. 381, no 6.

Stock Code: 234088