First German edition of the first Dutch fortification manual, with woodcut illustrations, by Simon Stevin (1548-1620), which inaugurated a new era in the history of siege warfare. It professionalized military engineering, introducing many original ideas and presenting them in lucid vernacular language. The present first German translation made his work accessible to an international audience for the first time (though translations had already circulated in manuscript) and was followed by a French translation in Stevin's collected mathematical works in 1634. In part through the influence of the present manual, the German-language classics of fortification, such as Adam Freitag's continued to develop the Dutch school of fortification.
The 1594 first edition was illustrated by woodcuts on the integral leaves, but for the present edition seven of the woodcut figures were instead printed separately and inserted as 2 folding plates and 3 smaller slips. These are lacking in the present copy, though it includes all integral leaves with the complete text and the other 30 illustrations. Quires C, E and O are somewhat browned. Otherwise in very good condition and with generous margins, occasionally preserving part of a deckle at the foot and fore-edge. The modern binding is in good condition. Jähns, p. 839; Jordan 3600 (7 copies; noting only 2 plates); Sloos 8010 (noting only 2 plates); VD17, 23:252455D (4 copies).