[ORDONNANCE NAVALE] Ordonnance de Louis XIV pour les armées navales et arcenaux de marine

First quarto edition, third issue (distinguished by the absence of the table of contents at the end; the other two issues present this table as 28 unnumbered leaves or 42 pages), cf. Polak 7161.

Each of the 23 books comprising the ordinance is separated from the preceding one by 8 blank leaves, likely intended for handwritten supplements or annotations, though these remain unused.

Full tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments and tooling, tan leather title label, gilt rolls on the somewhat faded caps, name of a former owner gilt-stamped on upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets partially faded along the edges, red edges. Contemporary binding.

Scuffing to the boards, joints restored, small tear on pages 167–68 without loss of text.

This major ordinance, a synthesis of all preceding edicts, ordinances, decrees, and regulations, should not be confused with the Great Ordinance of the Navy from August 1681, which pertains solely to the merchant marine. Both, however, stem from Colbert’s enduring commitment to the French Navy. The name "Lemaugin" is gilt-stamped at the center of both boards—he was a principal naval clerk based in Nantes in 1726. It is likely the book once belonged to him.