Brancaccio, Della nova disciplina & vera arte militare, Venice, Aldus, 1585, later half vellum

Brancaccio, Giulio Cesare. Della nuova disciplina & vera arte militare del Brancatio libri VIII. Ne' quali oltre la piena informatione di tal arte, con brevi regole, per commodità de' soldati; secondo i precetti di Cesare; chiaramente si dimostra, con quanta facilità, & poca spesa, possa ogni prencipe difendersi, combattendo in campagna con le sole sue forze da qual si voglia potentissimo essercito. Con la maniera facile d'assalire, & vincere con le proprie militie tutte le nationi. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1585

Brancaccio (1515-1586) was a courtier, musician and a military man; born in Naples, he joined the Imperial army in the 1530s and 1540s and fought against Barbarossa, the French, the Schmalkaldic League and Algerian pirates. He later fought in the French army and served at other European courts, possibly becoming involved in espionage. This is his only military work, first printed in Venice by Vittorio Baldini in 1582.

Folio (336 x 220 mm). Italic and roman type (the former for the text of Caesar, the latter for Brancaccio's commentary), 29 lines plus headline. collation: A-B⁴ C² D-H⁴ I⁶ K-Z AA⁴ BB⁶ (BB6 blank): 102 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page, woodcut initials and tailpieces, text printed within ruled borders. (Small marginal tear in D3, occasional light foxing.)

binding: Early nineteenth-century half vellum over orange marbled boards (348 x 234 mm), flat spine gilt with lettering- piece. (Lettering-piece rubbed.)

provenance: E.P. Goldschmidt, catalogue 160 (London, 1980), item 42. acquisition: Purchased from E.P. Goldschmidt, London, 1980. references: UCLA 965; Edit16 7431; Renouard 235/2