Godoy's army - Charles Esdailes

Based on an extremely rare (albeit slightly incomplete) illustrated version of the Spanish Army's order of battle as it existed in the year 1800, this work cannot but form a most unusual addition to the collection of anyone interested in military uniforms (or, more specifically, the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era). Almost every regiment of the Spanish Army is represented - including such extraordinary units as the Royal Corps of Cosmographic Engineers - while the beautiful full-page, hand-coloured engravings of the originals have been supplemented by a transcript of the details (in brief, the senior officers and the uniforms) given in the published edition of the army's order of battle, to which the album reproduced in the pages of this work was intended to complement. Also included is a substantial introduction to the Spanish Army in the period immediately preceding the Peninsular War - written by the leading expert on the subject - that will be of great interest to any student of that conflict; the soldiers seen in the book are, after all, pretty much the same as the soldiers who suddenly found themselves fighting Napoleon in 1808. A foreword by the current owner of the original - the well-known wargamer and figure designer Alan Perry - explains how the book came into his possession.