RAMELLI, Agostino (c.1531-post 20 August 1608). Le Diverse et Artificiose Machine , Paris: for the author, 1588. 2° (332 x 213mm). Italian text in italic, French text in roman type. Engraved title within architectural border and engraved portrait of the author on verso, both by Léonard Gaultier 194 engraved plates numbered to CXCV (CXLVIII and CXLIX combined as one double-page illustration), of which 20 double-page, CL-CLII signed with monogram "JG", ornamental border to all leaves except title, woodcut historiated and ornamental initials, tailpieces and corner ornaments. (Title with section of fore-edge torn away, N4 with corner torn away, plate CXLVI with marginal repairs, plate CXCI loosening, occasional marginal browning, damp and inkstaining, a few light scattered spots.) Later calf (rubbed and scuffed). Provenance : Mark Dineley (bookplate). FIRST EDITION of "one of the most elegantly produced of all technological treatises, emphasized and exploited the unlimited possibilities of machines ... the plates are artistically as well as technologically superb, the bilingual text beautifully printed, and both plates and text surrounded by handsome borders of typographic ornaments. Ramelli's mechanical astuteness showed itself both in his inventions and in his innovative combinations of fundamental elements. His machines became part of the common stock of mechanical knowledge, and his mechanical treatise remained a primary influence for a least two centuries" (Norman). An Italian engineer and soldier, Ramelli came under the patronage of Henri III to whom he dedicated this work. In the preface Ramelli explains that the exceptional care lavished upon the design and printing of his treatise was due to his wish to foil a crudely pirated publication of some of his designs (probably in the c. 1583 Timon of Ambroise Bachot, future ingénieur du roi ), as to his desire to show gratitude to his patron. About half of the engravings depict hydraulic devices, the rest showing military machines as well as fountains, bridges, cranes and foundry equipment with a smattering of innovative devices such as the famous "reading wheel" or the bouquet with artificial singing birds. Christie's sold the Kenney-Honeyman copy of Thomas Arundell (1560-1639), first Lord Arundell of Wardour's annotated copy (20 October 1999, lot 21) in which he details suggestions for improving Ramelli's machines and his proposals for alternative applications and is described as "an important document for the state of technology in Elizabethan England". Adams R-52; Dibner Heralds of Science 173; Harvard/Mortimer French 452; Norman 1777; Riccardi I, 341.
RAMELLI, Agostino (c.1531-post 20 August 1608). Le Diverse et Artificiose Machine , Paris: for the author, 1588. 2° (332 x 213mm). Italian text in italic, French text in roman type. Engraved title within architectural border and engraved portrait of the author on verso, both by Léonard Gaultier 194 engraved plates numbered to CXCV (CXLVIII and CXLIX combined as one double-page illustration), of which 20 double-page, CL-CLII signed with monogram "JG", ornamental border to all leaves except title, woodcut historiated and ornamental initials, tailpieces and corner ornaments. (Title with section of fore-edge torn away, N4 with corner torn away, plate CXLVI with marginal repairs, plate CXCI loosening, occasional marginal browning, damp and inkstaining, a few light scattered spots.) Later calf (rubbed and scuffed). Provenance : Mark Dineley (bookplate). FIRST EDITION of "one of the most elegantly produced of all technological treatises, emphasized and exploited the unlimited possibilities of machines ... the plates are artistically as well as technologically superb, the bilingual text beautifully printed, and both plates and text surrounded by handsome borders of typographic ornaments. Ramelli's mechanical astuteness showed itself both in his inventions and in his innovative combinations of fundamental elements. His machines became part of the common stock of mechanical knowledge, and his mechanical treatise remained a primary influence for a least two centuries" (Norman). An Italian engineer and soldier, Ramelli came under the patronage of Henri III to whom he dedicated this work. In the preface Ramelli explains that the exceptional care lavished upon the design and printing of his treatise was due to his wish to foil a crudely pirated publication of some of his designs (probably in the c. 1583 Timon of Ambroise Bachot, future ingénieur du roi ), as to his desire to show gratitude to his patron. About half of the engravings depict hydraulic devices, the rest showing military machines as well as fountains, bridges, cranes and foundry equipment with a smattering of innovative devices such as the famous "reading wheel" or the bouquet with artificial singing birds. Christie's sold the Kenney-Honeyman copy of Thomas Arundell (1560-1639), first Lord Arundell of Wardour's annotated copy (20 October 1999, lot 21) in which he details suggestions for improving Ramelli's machines and his proposals for alternative applications and is described as "an important document for the state of technology in Elizabethan England". Adams R-52; Dibner Heralds of Science 173; Harvard/Mortimer French 452; Norman 1777; Riccardi I, 341.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
