Fireworks.- Malthus (Francis) Pratique de la Guerre, second edition, additional engraved title, 2 plates, of which one folding, one half-page and 28 full-page illustrations, decorative woodcut initials and head- & tail-pieces, additional title with small burn-hole and frayed at foot with small loss, illustrations occasionally trimmed just into image, some ink annotations and scribbles scattered throughout, including scribbles and small ink-stains to additional title and title and annotations to a couple of plates, some staining, lightly browned and soiled, contemporary vellum, rebacked, covers stained and worn at corners, endpapers renewed, small 4to, Paris, Gervais Clousier, 1650.

⁂ First published in 1646. The second edition is rare in commerce; we can trace only one copy at auction in 2003. Malthus, an Englishman who served in the army of Louis XIII as Commisaire des Feux et Artifices de l'Artillerie, introduced the mortar into French warfare in 1634. The work covers artillery, bombs and mortars, tunnel-making and mines, as well as an abridgement of Malthus' Traité des feux artificiels (first published in 1629) on recreational fireworks.