Presented by Adam Douglas, Senior Rare Book Specialist at Peter Harrington. First edition. Clausewitz’s works were published posthumously, edited by his widow, and these, the first three volumes of ten, contain the first appearance of Vom Kriege (On War), his dialectical analysis of the function of war in human society. “The book is less a manual of strategy and tactics, although it incorporates the lessons learned from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, than a general enquiry into the interdependence of politics and warfare and the principles governing either or both… published by his widow it won immediate recognition as the most profound exposition of the philosophy of war – a place that has never been disputed” (PMM). Carter and Muir’s estimation in 1967 of the continuing relevance of Clausewitz’s work is confirmed by Daniel Moran in his article on Clausewitz in The Oxford Companion to Military History (2001) where it is described as “the most important general treatment of its subject yet produced”. This set with the small contemporary ink-stamps, ownership inscriptions, and press-marks of the Bibliothek der leichten Infanterie Halb-Brigade to the front endpapers, and to the title pages together with a slightly later ink-stamp of the Erstes Königlich Sächsisches Jäger-Bataillon.
View this item on our website: http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/vom-kriege.html (Item sold)
