Arte Militar dividida em tres partes. A primeira ensina a peleijar em campanha aberta, a segunda nos alojamentos, & aterceira nas fortificaçoes. Com tres discursos antes da arte [.].

Small folio (202 x 274 mm). (4), 263, (5) ff. With 13 letterpress folding plates, woodcut initials and diagrams in the text. Later stamped cream morocco by Antonio Possas of Porto (with his ticket) with stamped title and old shelfmark label to spine. Edges sprinkled red. Marbled endpapers. First and only edition. - Exceedingly rare work on military strategy by the Lisbon-born Mendes de Vasconcelos, head of the Portuguese Eastern troops and governor of Angola from 1617 to 1620. The illustrations show battle formations, featuring rectangular oders as well as circle and star formations. This is the only known work printed on the estate "do Mascote" in Alenquer, a small town some 50 km north of the capital, by the prominent Lisbon printer Vicente Alvarez, who was active between 1607 and 1626 and whose productions include an edition of the great epic poem "Os Lusíadas" in 1612. - A few marginal annotations in Portuguese by a contemporary hand. Binding somewhat rubbed, interior showing occasional light brownstaining. A little waterstained near the gutter in places and a few small marginal wormholes; several plates repaired. Provenance: ownership stamp of the 19th century Portuguese scholar and bibliophile João Vieira Pinto to title-page; later in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research. A single copy in auction records, sold in 1938. No more than 5 copies in libraries worldwide, one in the United States. - Cockle 615. USTC 5008880. Barbosa Machado 3, 115, 116. Palha 1, 473. Arouca V, 41. Pinto de Matos, 396. Inocêncio V, 306f. Monteverde 389, 3505: "Raríssimo".