SAXE (Maurice comte de). My reveries. Posthumous work by Maurice comte de Saxe, duc de Curlande et de Sémigalle, maréchal général des armées de Sa Majesté Trés-Chrétienne. Augmented by an abridged history of his life, & various pieces. [Amsterdam & Leipzig, Arkstée & Merkus, [Paris, Durand], 1757. Two volumes in-4 (279 x 206 mm), 5 f. o.b., CXXXIV pp., I f. o.b., 159 pp. ; 2 f. o.b., 259 pp., marbled and glazed fawn calf, ornate smooth spine, red title-piece and dark green tomaison, fillet framed in cold, gilt roulette on the edges, marbled edges (period binding). Given by Abbé Gabriel-Louis Pérau, this is the first edition strictly in accordance with the original manuscript of 1740. The text is accompanied by an important biography of the victor of Fontenoy, supporting documents and the author's Réflexions sur la propagation de l'espèce humaine. The edition published a year earlier by Zacharie Pazzi de Bonneville included only 40 plates. The illustration consists of 84 beautiful plates of military costumes and tactical plans. 81 of these were coloured at the time. Most of the plates, which fold out, were engraved on copperplate under the direction of the architect Pierre Patte from drawings by the author. They detail troop positions and movements, tactical diagrams, fortifications, artillery and models of flags and ensigns. Published posthumously, Mes rêveries is in some ways the military testament of Count Maurice de Saxe (1696-1750). The work offers a highly personal reflection on the various aspects of warfare: recruitment, uniforms, maintenance and training of troops, the combination of infantry and cavalry, fortification and entrenchment, terrain analysis, etc. Combining fertile imagination and practical sense, the Count of Saxony also proposed some astonishing innovations, including a rolling rifle known as the amusette, a suit enabling soldiers to run faster and new equestrian equipment. Bindings restored, small split at one of the spine ends, light wetness at the head of the 2 volumes, small marginal tear on pl. 17 of vol. 2, a few spots in places, otherwise a good copy of this classic of military art in contemporary binding. (Brunet, V, col. 174; Cohen, col. 942-943 erroneously indicates 94 plates).