Histoire du prince François Eugene de Savoye

New edition, illustrated with a portrait by Schmidt on strong paper and 12 folding military battle plans. The first edition was published by the same publisher in 1741. The book appears without an author's name, and has been attributed to Mauvillon by Barbier.

Contemporary full glazed brown calf bindings. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title and volume labels. 3 corners slightly bumped. Traces of rubbing. 2 tears at foot of volume III, same in the first compartment of volume I. Small lack at foot of volume I. Binder's error which placed the half-title of volume 2 at the head of volume I and that of the first volume at the head of volume II, same for the portrait which is found at the frontispiece of the second volume; the content of volume I is found in volume II. No half-title in volumes 3, 4 and 5. Last leaf of the table of volume V pasted down to the endpaper with a lack in the lower margin. Handsome copy.

Eugene of Savoy was one of the most illustrious soldiers of his time. Suffering the disgrace of Louis XIV which he inherited from his mother, he enlisted, after a refusal from the king, in the Imperial army. From the age of 22, after the war of the Holy League (Empire, Poland, Venice) against the Turks, he was made divisional general. His various campaigns, notably against France during the Spanish Succession, against Italy and the Turks earned him the position of generalissimo, then at the end of his life governor of the Netherlands. Napoleon I considered him one of the 7 great generals of history. Beyond the military biography of the character, the work forms a highly pertinent political history of modern Europe. The work proceeds chronologically, from 1683 (date of the Turkish declaration of war against the emperor) to 1736.