A manual on artillery, translated and published by order of Peter the Great
Frontispiece of the 1st Russian edition
The book "The Newest Foundation and Practice artillery" is a translation from German of the best educational and practical manual on artillery that existed at the beginning of the 18th century.
Front page
Counter-title
Full title and publication details in Russian: “The latest foundation and practice of artillery / by Ernest Brown, captain of artillery in Gdansk, 1682 / Printed in Slavensk by order of His Tsarist Majesty in Moscow in the year of the Lord 1709 in the month of September.”
The full title in the original language (the first four words are in Latin) is Novissimum Fundamentum & Praxis Artilleriae, Oder Nach itziger besten Mannier neu vermehrter und gantz Gründlicher Unterricht. Was diese höchst-nützliche Kunst vor Fundamenta habe und erfordere, denn auch, was vor neue Arthen Canonen, Feuer-Mörser und Haubitzen heutiges Tages im rechten Gebrauch sind, und zu Felde geführet, auch wie selbige gegossen.desgleihen wie die neu ist erfundene Granaten, Brand-Kugeln und Ernst Feuer werke nebstdenen dazu geborigen Materialen mussen laboriret berfertiget und in die Weite geworffen werde.
That is, "The Newest Foundation and Practice of Artillery, or the Present Best, Thorough, and Enlarged Manual for Teaching What this Very Useful Art Contains and upon What It Is Based, and What New Kinds of Cannon, Incendiary Mortars, and Howitzers Are Now Properly Used in the Field, How They Are Cast, How the Newly Invented Grenades, Incendiary Balls, and Petards, with the Materials Appropriate, Are to Be Made and Used."
Frontispiece of the 2nd German edition
Title page of the 2nd German edition
There are two known editions of the book in German: in 1682 and 1687. The Russian translation was made from the second edition, as indicated by the inscription on the frontispiece. The book also went through two Russian editions: in 1709 and 1710.
It is noteworthy that a copy of the German book was personally sent to Peter I by Ilya Fedorovich Kopievsky, about whom we wrote in our article “The first manual on military affairs, translated and published by decree of Peter the Great"We present an excerpt from a letter from Kopievsky to Peter I, written in May 1708: "In the past year of 1707, I gave Your Tsarist Majesty's surety for myself to the chancery, and from that chancery I was given 50 efimki for travel to Gdansk and for the purchase of books. And, being in Gdansk, I found only one book to buy: Braun's Artillery... And when I arrived in Warsaw, and by Your Most Serene Tsarist Majesty's decree, I was ordered to be at the mercy of Lieutenant General Yakov Vilimovich Bruce..." (Pekarsky P. Science and Literature in Russia under Peter the Great. Vol. I. St. Petersburg, 1862, pp. 528–529).
It would be logical to assume that Kopievsky translated this book into Russian, although some speculate that the translation was performed by Leonty Gross, an official at the Ambassadorial Prikaz. However, researchers agree that the translation was edited by Generalfeldzeugmeister (Chief of Artillery) Ya. V. Bruce.
This illustrated book is the first textbook and reference manual on artillery published in Russia. Beginning with a brief course in arithmetic and geometry used in preparing artillery for firing, the book then covers the material components of field, fortress, and siege weapons (cannons, howitzers, mortars) and the devices for their use, firing methods, the manufacture of gunpowder, and the production of combat and illuminating equipment. missiles, firecrackers for blowing up walls and fireworks for signaling and entertainment.
The volume of the book is 196 pages in 2°, that is, in-folio (half a printed sheet, which is the second largest format).
The book consists of five sections:
1) “Preface to the highly respected reader”, ending with the verses “To the Blasphemers” translated into prose;
2) "The Foundation of Artillery", set out in six parts;
3) “I have added to the end of this book a proposal, but not a decree, that subsequent guns on a military campaign may take all the necessary things that belong to it”;
4) “In such a military campaign, it is necessary that the following people be the first ones at the equipment”;
5) “Announcement of the decree, what each part, chapter and page of this book writes about.”
All 26 engravings on 23 sheets (not counting the frontispiece), made for the Russian editions by Peter Pickaert and Hendrik Dewitt, were copied from the German edition, for which the engravings were made by Klaus Lang.
High-quality drawings and illustrations present projectile flight calculation tables, geometric instruments, gun mounting devices, artillery battery plans, shot calibration, artillery guns, etc.
It would be superfluous to speculate on the necessity of such a publication for the Russian army. The book retained its value for its intended purpose for about half a century, that is, until the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), when the "Unicorn" howitzer, invented by artillery captain Mikhail Vasilyevich Danilov, was adopted. Incidentally, he also authored the first artillery manual compiled by a Russian officer, "Basic Knowledge of the Theory and Practice of Artillery. With the Addition of Hydrostatic Rules and Problems," which was published in Moscow in 1762. He may also have authored "Unicorn Practice," published in St. Petersburg in 1760.
The book is the only separately published manual on artillery in Russian, published under Peter I.
It is noteworthy that the book was first published in Russian no more than three months after the Battle of Poltava.
Furthermore, the book's value stems from the fact that it is one of the first printed in the civil typeface, which was introduced by Peter the Great in 1708, a year before the first edition was published. Therefore, the book has become a monument to the civil printing of the Peter the Great era.
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