Salazar

1793 · réf. MSH07 — 2 volumes. 51850 pages with 3 allegorical vignettes engraved by Fernando Selma after Antonio Carnicero and index. 574liv pages with 3 allegorical vignettes engraved by Fernando Selma after Antonio Carnicero and index. Folio 12" x 8 1/4" bound in half leather with five raised spine bands with gilt vignettes and lettering to spine over marbled boards. First edition. According to Navarrete the editor is the distinguished naval commander Josef de Mazarredo Salazar. Mazarredo was an original theorist. The Spanish Navy entered the American Revolutionary War with a system of tactics devised by him "Teniente de navío de la Real Armada and expounded in Rudimentos de Táctica Naval para Instrucción de los Officiales Subalternos de Marina" printed at Madrid in 1776 dedicated to King Charles III. The code of laws ruling the Spanish navy promulgated 8 March 1793 signed by the royal secretary Don Antonio Valdés for King Charles IV. Volume I deals with command structure ranks and offices: ship surgeon pilot armorer carpenter shipwright sailing master signaler diver and master-gunner; there are sections on naval artillery flags and signals salutes and military honors on board; volume II treats marine infantry and discipline on board quartering military service keeping the watch battle drill harbor policing accounts distribution of food pay and servants. Mazarredo did introduce a new sea-warfare idea the use of fireships by the windward fleet if threatened with doubling as a means of covering its retreat to windward. Salazar also showed himself an innovator in his treatment of breaking the enemy line. He proposed that when the fleet was to windward the center should break through the enemy center. Condition: Corners gently bumped. Volume II with small tear at title some internal soiling else a very attractive set. Viuda de D. Joachin Ibarra hardcover