Renau, Le Chévalier - La theorie de la manoeuvre des vaisseaux - 1689

A volume in 8º (19 x 12 cm). Half binding from the 18th century.
6 sheets, including the frontispiece, copper engraved by Ertinger, and typographic cover. With 24 (of 25) fold-out plates copper engraved full page. Wood engraved tops and initials.

A plate and a text sheet (pages 65/66) is missing.

Original edition of the most important work on construction and naval tactics by the engineer and marine officer of King Louis XIV of France.
In 1680 and 1681, Louis XIV, with the intention of perfecting the construction of his lowlands, called his ‘generals of the sea’ and the kingdom's greatest experts in naval architecture to his court with the intention of perfecting the technique of building his fleet and making it unbeatable. Among them was Renau, who had devised a system to plot the ship's templates, a machine that saved wood and reduced workers' days.

In 1701, at the beginning of the Spanish War of Succession, he was sent to Spain to inspect and repair the fleet of Philip V of Bourbon. He managed to save the galleons who took refuge in Vigo from the hands of the English. Promoted to marshal in 1704, he participated in the siege of Gibraltar. Later, Philip V commissioned him, with the rank of lieutenant general, the defence of Cadiz. He returned to France in 1715, and in September 1715 was appointed director of the Council of the Navy. He was appointed lieutenant general of the naval armies in March 1716 and elected honorary member of the Academy of Sciences in 1719.