THOUMAS (Charles). Retrospective military exhibition of the Ministry of War in 1889. Paris: Librairie artistique, H. Launette et Cie, G. Boudet, 1890. - 8 folio volumes, leaves, in publisher's laced cardboard folder. First edition of this work by General Thoumas, based on the Retrospective Military Exhibition held at the 1889 Universal Exhibition in the pavilion erected by the Ministry of War on the esplanade des Invalides. It is illustrated with over 400 photogravure reproductions of most of the exhibits, both in and out of the text. Thoumas' text is neither an explanatory catalog nor a complete, methodical history of the French army. "It is a kind of gallery, in which, alongside anecdotal biographies of key figures, interesting episodes follow one another in the order of time, but without logical sequence, so as to leave in the reader's mind, as far as France's military past is concerned, a feeling for the broad outlines and knowledge of the characteristic details" (p. XI). ONE OF 15 COPIES ON IMPERIAL JAPANESE PAPER, CONTAINING A SUITE OF ALL THE PHOTOGRAVURES BEFORE THE LETTER. Wear and soiling to folders, without bindings. Very good condition inside. The plate on page 46, depicting 16th-century portable firearms, is on chine pastedown on wove paper and shows traces of folding. This plate was obviously missing from the original edition, as it does not appear in the sequel either.