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Lot 48
BESSON, JACQUES. 1540?-1573. Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum. Lyon: Barthelemy Vincent, 1578.
21 September 2015, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$5,250 inc. premium
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BESSON, JACQUES. 1540?-1573.
Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum. Lyon: Barthelemy Vincent, 1578.
Folio (368 x 252 mm). Text in Latin. [11] ff; A-B4 C4(-C4), plus 60 full-page engraved plates, title within wide elaborate woodcut architectural border; woodcut head- and tail-pieces, chapter initials. Additions by Francisco Beroaldus. 19th century quarter calf. Very pale foxing to title and some other leaves, spine dry and chipped, upper cover started.
Provenance: Harrison D. Horblit, 1912-1988 (bookplate).
HORBLIT COPY of the Beroaldus edition of Besson's work on engineering machinery and mathematical instruments, the first book on the topic to be printed in France. There were three editions done by Vincent in 1578: this one in Latin, one with French text, and another with title in both French and Latin and text in French. Most of the plates were engraved for Besson by the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau in the 1560s, four being engraved later by Rene Boyvin and with his monogram. Together they comprise a fine visual record of the state of mechanical engineering at the end of the sixteenth century, including tools for stone-cutting, raising ships, fire-fighting, dredging etc., together with designs for wells, pontoons, mill-wheels, and a water-driven musical clock. This was the first book produced in the new 16th century genre of "theatre of machines." Before this work, illustrations of machines had been produced, but represented mainly current or new inventions; this was really the first time fantastical and conceptual machines had been represented, as the book shared a range of machines that Besson had envisioned as being possible to build. Adams B838; Mortimer French 58; Norman 227.
Folio (368 x 252 mm). Text in Latin. [11] ff; A-B4 C4(-C4), plus 60 full-page engraved plates, title within wide elaborate woodcut architectural border; woodcut head- and tail-pieces, chapter initials. Additions by Francisco Beroaldus. 19th century quarter calf. Very pale foxing to title and some other leaves, spine dry and chipped, upper cover started.
Provenance: Harrison D. Horblit, 1912-1988 (bookplate).
HORBLIT COPY of the Beroaldus edition of Besson's work on engineering machinery and mathematical instruments, the first book on the topic to be printed in France. There were three editions done by Vincent in 1578: this one in Latin, one with French text, and another with title in both French and Latin and text in French. Most of the plates were engraved for Besson by the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau in the 1560s, four being engraved later by Rene Boyvin and with his monogram. Together they comprise a fine visual record of the state of mechanical engineering at the end of the sixteenth century, including tools for stone-cutting, raising ships, fire-fighting, dredging etc., together with designs for wells, pontoons, mill-wheels, and a water-driven musical clock. This was the first book produced in the new 16th century genre of "theatre of machines." Before this work, illustrations of machines had been produced, but represented mainly current or new inventions; this was really the first time fantastical and conceptual machines had been represented, as the book shared a range of machines that Besson had envisioned as being possible to build. Adams B838; Mortimer French 58; Norman 227.
Footnotes
THE THEATRE OF MACHINES.