[Cavalry Maneuvers]

Instruction concerning the exercise and maneuvers of mounted troops, written according to the currently active ordinances and followed by one hundred thirty-seven plates. [No named author; official publication of the Ministry of War]. Paris, Magimel; Strasbourg, Levrault, Year VII [1798-1799]. First Edition. Octavo (8vo) (20.5 x 13 cm). Volume 1, 329 pp, Volume 2, 137 plates (separate) on copper, some folding). Very good condition. Contemporary full calf leather binding; smooth spines with false raised bands and gilt-lettered title pieces on green morocco. Headcaps and corners in good condition, small one-centimeter crack on the joint of the upper board of Volume 1. No foxing. Bookplate of M. de Saint-Loup, retired artillery major, Officer of the Legion of Honor, in Buxy, Saône-et-Loire Cavalry regulations published under the Directory to standardize the instruction and maneuvers of the French army's mounted troops. The work covers the instruction of the cavalryman, individual and collective exercises, squadron and regiment formations, movements in line and column, as well as tactical evolutions in the field. Volume 2, with 137 plates, constitutes the indispensable complement to the text and precisely illustrates the various formations, alignments, and prescribed movements. This publication is part of the doctrinal reorganization of the French army at the end of the Revolutionary Wars. It reflects the standardization of cavalry instruction methods on the eve of the Consulate and the Napoleonic campaigns. The bibliographic interest of the work lies in its regulatory content and its significant iconographic corpus, which documents in detail the practices of the French cavalry at the end of the 18th century. Published under the authority of the military administration, this work does not pertain to an individual author but is a collective regulatory effort intended to codify the instruction of mounted troops. It constitutes one of the main doctrinal references of the French cavalry at the junction of the Revolution and the Napoleonic era.