Page 70 - Best Bid 7 | 2017

PARIgI, 1588 - AgOsTINO RAmELLI
LE DIVERSE ET ARTIFICIOSE MACCHINE
FIguRA DI uN muLINO

BaSE D'aSTa
STaRTiNG pRiCE
€ 8.000

woodcuts probably designed under 1615 - FAusTO VERANZIO
german influence” (Printing and the MACHINAE NOVAE
Mind of Man no. 10). Furthermore, it
was the first book to be printed in “hOmO VOLANs”. LA PRImA
Verona and the second Italian book RAFFIguRAZIONE DI uN PARACADuTE
to contain illustrations.
BaSE D'aSTa
STaRTiNG pRiCE

€ 8.000

the June auction promises

The book was widely distributed: to be appealing for collectors Italian as well. In 1588, Agostino

Louis XI of France, matthias Corvinus of scientific books Ramelli (1531-1608) published Le
the King of hungary, Federico da diverse et artificiose machine in Paris,

montefeltro the Duke of urbino which presented various automatic,

and Lorenzo de’ medici all owned hydraulic and pneumatic machines

copies. Even Leonardo da Vinci, at the service of Cesare Borgia for work, war and domestic use, all of his own invention. The

as head engineer and military architect, used it when designing work had significant influence on the development of European

his military apparatus. mechanics.

Eleven years later, 13 February 1483 to be precise, the Bonino We cannot omit Machinae novae by Fausto Veranzio (1551-1617),
de’ Bonini printing presses in Verona (famous for Dante’s 1487 published in Venice in approximately 1616. The treaty included
illustrated Comedy) produced a second Latin edition, followed 49 technological innovations accompanied by illustrated figures
only four days later by the first edition in the vernacular edited and a description in Italian, Latin, german, spanish and French.
by Paolo Ramusio. Both editions will be present in June’s auction. The author, who spent several years at the court of Emperor
The Latin edition shows excellent contemporary colouring. Rudolf II, was a friend of Kepler and Tycho Brahe, scientists who
were particularly interested in scientific discoveries. his “homo
Following in Valturio’s footsteps, the school of Italian engineers Volans” gave the first printed depiction of a parachute. The
bloomed a century later between the sixteenth and seventeenth rarity of the work, which has rarely come up at auction, derives
century. In 1556, the first edition of the treaty De re metallica prevalently from the fact that it was published at the author’s
by georg Agricola (1494-1555) was published posthumously. It own expense with very limited circulation.
dealt with the extraction and processing of minerals, materials
needed for the constructions of engineering and war machines. These are only the most famous examples that will be auctioned
The text, with its excellent illustrations, remained valid for alongside numerous other scientific and technological books in
almost two centuries with editions released in german and the summer auction.

68b 7.2017 highlights