LEFEBVRE (Mr. [Simon])

Oeuvres Completes de Mr. Le Febvre.

Major au Corps des Ingénieurs de Prusse, Membre Ordinaire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences & Belles-Lettres de Berlin.

4to. Two volumes. Volume I with seventeen folding copper-engraved plates and plans, including four relating to the siege of Schweidnitz in 1762, Volume II with fourteen similar plates, including two maps of Canada, the coastal region around the mouth of the St. Lawrence and the extent of the river between Montreal and Tadoussac. Some browning throughout, Volume II has the ink stamp of Imperial College, Civil Engineering Library to the title page, but overall very good recently rebound in light sprinkled calf, labels to the spine. xii, 329pp. viii, 286pp. Chez Jean-Edme Dufour & Philippe Roux, Maestricht, 1778.

£650.00

Jähns 2779. A scarce item, RLIN locates only the California State Library copy, OCLC the Society of the Cincinatti copy, and KVK that at John Rylands, no copy in the BL or apparently on NUC.

Volume I is entitled “L’Art d’Attaquer et de Défendre les Places” and contains in its latter part a “Journal du Siege de la Ville de Schweidnitz en l’An 1762”. From the title and form of this account it seems likely that Le Febvre was present at the siege of the town, now Schwidnica in Poland. Frederick the Great succeeded in manoeuvring Daun from his commanding position on the Waldenburg Hills and established a siege - “… better described as a blockade… “ - which reduced the town on October 9th 1762.

Volume II has sections separately titled of “Essai sur les Mines”; “Recueil de quelques Pieces et Lettres relatives aux Épreuves du Globe de Compression”; and “Essai sur la Maniere de Faire les Cartes.” The maps of Canada are attached to the latter section.

Stock No.
83817