Første Afhandling Om at indrette en Artillerie Math stab og hvorledes skal benytte sig af samme.
[Denmark], C.B. Købke 18 April 1823-7 November 1825.
Folio (358 x 230 mm.). Later pencil pagination: 193, [1 blank]p. and 1 plate. Manuscript in Danish in a single cursive hand, FOLDING PLATE OF A SEVENTY-CANNON WARSHIP’S CROSS-SECTION AND THIRTY-SIX FULL-PAGE TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED TEXT DRAWINGS COMPLETED IN WATERCOLOR, eight full-page and several smaller tables and diagrams (three bar charts enhanced in watercolor), erasures and corrections by the main hand in black ink, teachers’ evaluation notes by five different hands and nearly all pages marked in pencil with grading signs, numbers and comments.
Contemporary half-sheep over marbled paper boards (scuffed, spine chipped), gilt red morocco label on front board lettered C. KÖBKE, gilt-ruled spine, edges sprinkled blue.
NAVAL ARTILLERY DISSERTATIONS COMPILED BY THE TEENAGE Caspar Bernhard Købke, who entered the naval academy at thirteen, became a decorated Navy captain, commanded several warships and authored Thoughts on Denmark’s Sea Defense (1851).
Over two and a half years, he wrote out his lessons on, i.a., the design, gauging, inspection, testing, transportation, ammunition, loading and maintenance of ship cannons, howitzers, mortars, falconets, rifles, pistols and hand grenades. In the lesson on the arming of warships for battle, he illustrates the positioning and maneuvering of cannons on two deck levels, while his last lesson, on the properties, manufacturing and use of gunpowder, includes a half-page drawing of a fully stocked gunpowder lab and the plan, profile and cross-section illustration of a loaded fireship. Købke’s instructors’ evaluations of his work reflect his command of the material. The final nine leaves have designs for land fortifications and field artillery.
This reflects the Danish navy’s considerable investment in vessels and munitions after the disastrous Gunboat War against Britain (1807-1814). In good condition.
¶Topsøe-Jensen, Personalhistoriske Oplysninger om Officerer af det Danske Søofficerskorps 224-225; see Pohler’s Bibliotheca historico-militaris III: 747.
Price: $12,500.00