Observations Upon Five first Books of Caesars Commentaries

EDMUNDS, Clement.  OBSERVATIONS UPON FIVE FIRST BOOKES OF CAESARS COMMENTARIES.

London: Printed for Peter Short, 1600. Small folio. Contemporary full vellum. (iv), 199 pages, 6 plates on 10 leaves. *2, A-I, K-T, V-Z, Aa-Bb 4. First edition.

This work, by Sir Clement Edmondes (1564-1622), Clerk to the Council, is considered to be one of the most comprehensive and detailed essays on military philosophy written in this period.  In Virginia, the book was in the libraries of Landon Carter, Robert Carter II, and was advertised in the Virginia Gazette.  Written in English, it reflects on military theory as recorded in Caesar's Commentaries.  The six engraved plates show the organization of the army, the arrangement of their camps, their assembly for battle and for sieges.  The use of the bird's eye view is reminiscent of John White's plates of the American Indians of the period.  The book is rare.  OCLC records only six copies as being in libraries world-wide.  This is a very attractive, unpressed copy in darkened and slightly worn contemporary vellum.  The last leaf is cropped and has been pasted to another sheet with no loss of text.

 

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