La Marine des anciens peuples, expliquée et considérée par rapport aux lumières qu'on en peut tirer pour perfectionner la Marine moderne; avec des figures représentant les vaisseaux de guerre de ces peuples.

With 6 engr. folding plates by Sellier. XXXV, (1), 224 pp. 8vo. Contemp. red morocco, flat spine gilt, gilt supralibros with the coat of arms of the French minister Armand-Thomas Hue de Miromesnil (1723-1796), triple gilt fillet around sides, single fillet on outer edges, inner dentelles, edges gilt. With bookplate Henri Houssaye. Paris, Nyon ainé and Stoupe, 1777. First edition. The architect Julien-David Leroy (1724-1803), member of the Académie des Inscriptions and the Académie des Beaux Arts, travelled extensively in Greece and the Levant; he lectured on ancient Greek architecture for forty years. He was convinced that his studies of the marine in antiquity could be profitable to modernize its modern counterpart. He experimented with unsinkable boats and adresses this problem in Book VII of the present work. Leroy even had the boat "Naupotame" constructed which he considered nearly unsinkable. The plates engraved by Louis Sellier (born in Paris in 1757) show the development of ship construction from simple rafts to vessels with three tiers of oarsmen. - Fine copy. - Polak 5848; Hoefer XXX, 893. NAUTICA ; MILITARIA ;