Baudouin, Simon-René, Comte de | A fine handcolored copy of "Exercice de l’Infanterie Françoise"

Baudouin, Simon-René, Comte de.

Exercice de l’Infanterie Françoise. [Paris,] 1757

Folio (492 x 325 mm). Engraved throughout by (and mostly after) Baudouin, title-page with medallion portrait after Bouchardon, additional pictorial title-page for presentation after Pierre (numbered No. 1), engraved tailpiece after A. de Saint-Aubin on advertisement leaf, engraved table, 16 engraved pages of text on 8 leaves, and 62 very fine handcolored plates (numbered 2–63) depicting soldiers in different postures; title-pages effaced obscuring some text and the medallion on principal title and the recipient on presentation title (tiny loss of paper to principal title), some mostly marginal browning and soiling throughout. Contemporary French red morocco, covers with a gilt-roll border, spine in eight compartments, the second with a morocco title label, others gilt with large floral tool, marbled endpapers, gilt edges; a bit worn and scratched.

Baudouin was an infantry colonel and lieutenant of the grenadiers. His plates depict in sequence the exercise drill of the French infantry, with some figures depicted "in profile because the distinctive parts of these positions were hidden when looking at the soldier from the front." The suite of plates is accompanied by an extract from the King's 6 May 1755 ordinance that detailed the progression of movements from one position to another.

Handcolored copies are extremely rare and none are cited on Rare Book Hub.

REFERENCES:

Colas 245; cf. Lipperheide Qk 8 (reduced size 1759 edition)

PROVENANCE:

Garde Nationale de Versailles (bookplate, dated 1837)