HOSTE Paul - Lot 27

HOSTE Paul L'Art des Armées navales, ou Traité des evolutions navales, qui contient des regles utiles aux officiers Généraux, & Particuliers d'une Armée Navale; avec des exemples tirez de ce qui s'est passé de plus considérable sur la mer depuis cinquante ans. Lyon, Anisson & Posuel, 1697, 2 works in 1vol. in-folio, speckled brown calf, finely decorated ribbed spine, fawn title page, lace on the edges, speckled edges, slight rest. and a few scattered russets. 1) 7 ff.n.ch., 424 pp. and 134 engraved figures. 2) 6 ff.n.ch., 172 pp. 2 ff.n.ch. (explanation of marine terms) and 11 folding plates out of text. Polak 4512. Sommervogel IV, 479-480. First edition of these two works, which should always be found together. Father Hoste's major work, marking the science of navigation, was translated into the languages of most European maritime nations. Paul Hoste, born in 1652 in Pont-de-Veyle, Ain, entered the Jesuits in September 1666. A gifted mathematician, he soon specialized in mathematical applications for the navy. Successively Royal Professor of Mathematics in Lyon and Toulon (where he died in 1700), he benefited, through the Duc de Mortemart, from the high protection of Marshals Jean d'Estrées and de Tourville. He made several sea voyages with them and accompanied them on their naval expeditions for twelve years, studying and codifying their maneuvers. French naval thought really took shape with the Traité des évolutions navales, written in close collaboration with these two illustrious marshals. It constitutes a vast synthesis of the naval tactics of the time, based on a study of the great naval battles since Lepanto. A good copy in contemporary binding. Handwritten bookplate on the title page. [Ref. 23879] The first treatise on naval tactics to be published in Europe