GIUSTINIANO, Pompeo.
Delle guerre di Flandra libri VI. ... Posti in luce da Gioseppe Gamurini ...
Antwerp, J. Trognesio, 1609. 4to. With engraved architectural title-page and 29 folding engraved maps and plans of sieges and fortifications. White sheepskin (ca. 1700 or possibly later). [4], 329, [1 blank], [15], [3 blank] pp.
€ 2,950
First edition, in the original Italian, of the only historical work by the army general Pompeo Giustiniano (1569-1616). Giustiniano learned the art of warfare in the Netherlands under Farnese and Spinola. His work on the war in Flanders is of great importance for military history as it was the only work written from the Spanish point of view. The large strategic plans show numerous besieged cities in the Netherlands in the years 1601 to 1609. A large part is devoted to the 1603 Siege of Ostende, where Giustiniano himself as commander in chief successfully attacked Maurits of Nassau, the future Prince of Orange. At that siege the Spanish army recaptured the city and the Dutch lost their last stronghold on the Flemish coast.
With the bookplate of the Luton Library of John Crichton-Stuart (1793-1848). With some text leaves slightly browned but still in very good condition, most of the plates fine. The binding is also very good, with only the spine label slightly damaged. A first hand account, from the Spanish side, of the battles and sieges in Flanders during a crucial stage of the Dutch war of independence. Nijhoff, Bibl. Hist. Neerl. III, 649; Palau 102835; STCV 6624785 (4 copies, incl. 2 incomplete).
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