Beschreibung:

VALTURIUS, Robertus (1413-1484). De re militari. Verona: Joannes Nicolai de Verona, 1472.
VALTURIUS, Robertus (1413-1484). De re militari. Verona: Joannes Nicolai de Verona, 1472. Median 2 o (345 x 242 mm). Collation : [1 6 2-8 1 0 9 1 4 10 2 ; 11-13 1 0 14 1 2 15 8 16 6 ; 17-19 1 0 20 1 2 21-26 1 0 27 1 2 ] (1/1 contents, 1/4v-6 blank, 2/1r text, 27/11v verses in praise of Valturius, 27/12r colophon, 27/12v blank). 241 (of 262 leaves; lacking 1/6 bl, 2/1. 6/9. 8/2.9, 8/6, 10/2, 14/4.9, 14/11. 27/2-12). Blank pages 1/6r-v, 19/2v, 19/7r-v (usually cancelled) with apparently unrelated contemporary manuscript text; 17/2r-v.9v and 18/2r unperfected, with missing text supplied in contemporary manuscript; 20/5r.9v and 21/2r left blank. Type: 1:122R. 100 woodcut illustrations (on 85 pages, several composite), many full-page, woodcuts impressed in a separate operation from the printing of the text. The cuts COLORED IN PASTEL-COLORED WASH BY A CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN ARTIST. 8 contemporary 7-9-line initials illuminated by a contemporary artist in gold, blue, lavender, mauve, black and other colors with border extentions, headlines and manuscript additions in red, 2- to 3-line chapter initial spaces, red capital strokes. (Some marginal dampstaining, heavier in second half, a few leaves with marginal tears or chipping, leaf 157 torn crossing text, repaired along margins.) Contemporary reversed deerskin over wooden boards, two brass clasps and deerskin straps (some light rubbing and staining). Provenance : Flavia Vieci, 1544 (inscription on vellum flyleaf); From the very rich library of the priest Jacobus Paix (1594 Bohemian inscription on vellum flyleaf); acquired from John Howell, 1975. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED WITH TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN VERONA. Valturius wrote his treatise on war-craft while serving as engineer to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini. Although gunpowder had been introduced in warfare a century earlier, medieval methods of siege-warfare were still practiced, and it is largely these traditional methods that Valturius describes. De re militari became a handbook for Renaissance princes and military leaders, and Leonardo da Vinci made use of it while acting as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia. The remarkable series of woodcuts depicting a variety of military equipment ranging from catapults and battering-rams to revolving gun turrets and a prototype submarine appear in this edition only; exact copies in reverse were used in later editions (see following lot). Usually ascribed to Matteo de Pasti, a medallist and illuminator also in the service of Sigismondo Pandolfo, they "are the first true Italian book illustrations" ( PMM ), since designs in two previous works (Essling 1; H 15722) were probably Germanic. The woodblocks had a different height to paper from the type-fount and were printed in a separate, operation from the text in thinner ink. The pages 19/2v 20/5r, 20/9r and 21/2r are also left blank in the BSB and the Morgan library copies. HC *15847; BMC VII, 948 (IB. 30705-6); BSB-Ink V-52; Goff V-88; GW M49412; IGI 10114; Klebs 1014.1; PMM 10; Stillwell Awakening, 897; Sander 7481; Schaefer 346. Fact and Fantasy 1.