THOUMAS (Charles). Military retrospective exhibition of the ministry of war in 1889. Paris : Librairie artistique, H. Launette et Cie, G. Boudet, 1890. - 8 volumes in-folio, in sheets, in publisher's laced cardboard folder. First edition of this work by General Thoumas, based on the retrospective military exhibition that took place during the 1889 Universal Exhibition in the pavilion built by the Ministry of War on the esplanade of the Invalides. It is illustrated with more than 400 photogravure reproductions of most of the exhibited objects, in the text and out of the text. Thoumas' text is not an explanatory catalog nor a complete and methodical history of the French army. "It is a kind of gallery, in which, next to the anecdotal biographies of the outstanding characters, interesting episodes follow each other in the order of time, but without logical sequence, so as to leave in the mind of the reader, as far as the military past of France is concerned, the feeling of the main lines and the knowledge of the characteristic details" (p. XI). ONE OF 15 COPIES ON PAPER OF THE IMPERIAL MANUFACTURES OF JAPAN, CONTAINING A SUITE OF ALL THE PHOTOGRAVURES BEFORE THE LETTER. Wear and soiling to the folders, without the ties. Very good condition inside. The plate on page 46, representing the portable firearms of the 16th century, is on china paper pasted on wove paper and shows traces of folds. This plate was obviously missing from the original since it does not appear in the suite either.