Campagnes des Russes dans la Turquie d'Europe en 1828 et 1829,

A lovely set of Moltke's history of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, with the rare atlas volume. The extra map is a Berlin published German map of Turkey and its Russian borders, originally published in 1853 at the same time as Moltke's work.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (1800-1891) was the chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, and was regarded as as one of the finest military minds of his generation. Early in his career, on being made Captain, he travelled to Constantinople and was invited by Sultan Mahmud II to modernise the Ottoman Army. They had just suffered defeat at the hands of the Russians and needed a new strategy. Moltke largely failed in his endeavours due to most Ottoman generals ignoring his advice, but he spent two years in the region learning Turkish and surveying great swathes of the Ottoman empire. Later he used his experience to write this treatise on the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) as a lesson against outdated military techniques.

First French edition; 2 vols, 8vo (22 x 14.5) and atlas folio (48 x 35 cm); 1 large folding map and two sets of large folding plans, extra-illustrated with large map of Turkey and Greece in segments, scale 1:1,000,000, text in French, light occasional spotting; text vols in contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards, all edges speckled, spine gilt, extremities a little rubbed, atlas in contemporary quarter morocco, original printed wrappers bound in, little rubbed, a very good set.