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De re militari, in Italian: Opera dell' arte militare. Translated by Paolo Ramusio. Verona: Boninus de Boninis, de Ragusia, 17 February 1483.
Details
VALTURIUS, Robertus (1413-84)
De re militari, in Italian: Opera dell' arte militare. Translated by Paolo Ramusio. Verona: Boninus de Boninis, de Ragusia, 17 February 1483.
First vernacular edition of a ‘handbook of the military leaders of the Renaissance” (PMM). On its first appearance in 1472, it was one of the first scientific texts ever printed and the first to contain illustrations of a technical nature. The subjects cover a wide range of war machines: battering-rams, cross-bows, catapults, storming wagons, chariots, pontoons, and even an early type of grenade and a paddle-wheeled submarine, charting ‘the progressive engineering ideas’ of Valturio’s time. This Italian edition follows by just 4 days the second Latin edition, also from the short-lived press of Boninus de Boninis, both illustrated with copies of the woodcuts used in the first edition with new additions. The Italian edition repeats a woodcut from E2r on E5r, whereas the Latin edition has another cut of a double battering ram on wheels (not here). It is rarer than both its Latin predecessors; the first, unsigned quire containing a dedicatory letter by the translator to Roberto di Aragonia, is frequently missing, as here. HC 15849; BMC VII, 952; Bod-inc V-043; BSB-Ink V-54; CIBN V-59; Klebs 1015.1; IGI 10116; Goff V-90; ISTC iv00090000.
Chancery folio (300 x 205mm). 306 leaves (of 314, lacking preliminary quire [π6] as often, and without blank a1 and O10). 95 woodcuts (including one repeat), many full-page, 2- to 9-line initial spaces, a few with printed guide-letter, a few initials supplied in an 18th-century hand (very occasional smudge or light stain, occasional spotting, a few small wormholes in first and final quire, corner of lower margin of O7 replaced). Modern tan sheep-backed boards, gilt flat spine (very lightly rubbed). Provenance: Cesare Saluzzo (bookplate) – Tommaso di Savoia, Duke of Genoa (bookplate, stamps of the ducal library) – Turin, Archivio Storico A.M.M.A (Associazione Industriali Metallurgici, Meccanici e Affini; discreet blindstamps on numerous leaves).
De re militari, in Italian: Opera dell' arte militare. Translated by Paolo Ramusio. Verona: Boninus de Boninis, de Ragusia, 17 February 1483.
First vernacular edition of a ‘handbook of the military leaders of the Renaissance” (PMM). On its first appearance in 1472, it was one of the first scientific texts ever printed and the first to contain illustrations of a technical nature. The subjects cover a wide range of war machines: battering-rams, cross-bows, catapults, storming wagons, chariots, pontoons, and even an early type of grenade and a paddle-wheeled submarine, charting ‘the progressive engineering ideas’ of Valturio’s time. This Italian edition follows by just 4 days the second Latin edition, also from the short-lived press of Boninus de Boninis, both illustrated with copies of the woodcuts used in the first edition with new additions. The Italian edition repeats a woodcut from E2r on E5r, whereas the Latin edition has another cut of a double battering ram on wheels (not here). It is rarer than both its Latin predecessors; the first, unsigned quire containing a dedicatory letter by the translator to Roberto di Aragonia, is frequently missing, as here. HC 15849; BMC VII, 952; Bod-inc V-043; BSB-Ink V-54; CIBN V-59; Klebs 1015.1; IGI 10116; Goff V-90; ISTC iv00090000.
Chancery folio (300 x 205mm). 306 leaves (of 314, lacking preliminary quire [π6] as often, and without blank a1 and O10). 95 woodcuts (including one repeat), many full-page, 2- to 9-line initial spaces, a few with printed guide-letter, a few initials supplied in an 18th-century hand (very occasional smudge or light stain, occasional spotting, a few small wormholes in first and final quire, corner of lower margin of O7 replaced). Modern tan sheep-backed boards, gilt flat spine (very lightly rubbed). Provenance: Cesare Saluzzo (bookplate) – Tommaso di Savoia, Duke of Genoa (bookplate, stamps of the ducal library) – Turin, Archivio Storico A.M.M.A (Associazione Industriali Metallurgici, Meccanici e Affini; discreet blindstamps on numerous leaves).
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