Cologne, 1662.
Folio [330 x 220 mm] of (1) bl.l., 1 engraved frontispiece, (10) pp., 55, (1) bl.p., 154 full-page numbered plates. First quire foxed. Bound in contemporary granite-like brown calf, blind-stamped border on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated, joints formerly restored, mottled edges. Contemporary binding.
First Latin edition of this spectacular machine book by Boeckler. Brunet, I, 1024.
This work was initially published in German by Fürst in 1661, and was translated into Latin the following year by Henri Schmitz.
Architect in the city of Nuremberg, Boeckler (1617-1687) composed this important compilation of mills and other complex and varied mechanical inventions. The author shows in his treatise ways to build aqueducts, fountains, pumps, fountains, siphons to put out fire, elevating machines, water and windmills, others that are hand- or foot-operated… All these mills don’t have the same use, some of them are used to mill wheat, others to make paper, for the saltpeter, to grind colors, to saw wood or stone, for the drapers, for printers’ press, etc. There are machines to lift heavy loads, others that are used for the attack and defense of cities, for the building of monuments, etc. Boeckler studies the various uses of the toothed wheel in mechanics. He analyzes the different ways to make it turn, from water or wind to human or animal strength.
With an obvious artistic sense, the architect illustrates in 154 superb copper-engraved plates the most varied mechanical inventions. Several of these engravings are projects conceived by the author with a vivid imagination and a real knowledge of mechanisms in the inventions presented. The final plate of the work, which is often missing, is of the utmost interest as is represents a fire engine water pump managed by 7 men in action, a very recent German invention made in 1658 by the German engineer Hans Hautsch. Plate 5 pictures a hand mill for making ink for copperplate printing.
A precious copy preserved in its contemporary binding.
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