[Manuscript fencing book]

d'après la méthode du Capitaine Saxon de Selmnitz. A Hartmannstadt. Traduit de l'allemand par le Cap.ne Langermann." Manuscript, ca. 1840, consisting of a title page in pen and 21 single-sided written leaves in pen and ink, with supplemented, facing the descriptions, drawings in black crayon on thinner paper, contemporary blue paper wrapper, oblong 4to (28 x 20 cm.).

Contents loose(ning), leaves bound with a single thread; somewhat stained, binding frayed on edges. Very special fencing manuscript, of which we could not find a printed version in the KvK. Eduard von Selmitz published the first part of his "Die Bajonetfechtkunst oder Lehre des Verhaltens mit dem Infanterie-Gewehre als Angriffs und Vertheidigungs-Waffe" in 1825, with 31 illustrations. He never wrote more thatn this first part, but it was so successful that new editions appeared in 1831 and 1832 In 1840, a French translation appeared in Paris with the title "De l'escrime à la baïonnette, ou, Instruction pour l'emploi du fusil d'infanterie comme arme d'attaque et de dʹefense", translated by J.B.N. Merjay. The illustrations in this edition are completely different from our ms. We could not find out which German edition served as an example for Langermann's manual.