RAMELLI (Agostino).

Le Diverse et artificiose machine. Paris, In casa del'autore, 1588. In-folio, soft vellum, title in ink on the spine (Binding of the period). Brun, p. 280 - Cockle, n°788. - Dibner, n°173 - Mortimer, French books, n°452. - Riccardi, t. II, col. 341. First edition of one of the most beautiful books on mechanics of the Renaissance, written by the Italian mathematician Agostino Ramelli and dedicated to King Henry III. This fundamental treatise in the history of engineering was printed at the author's expense, text in Italian and French. Superb engraved intaglio illustration including an architectural title-frontispiece, a portrait of the author at the age of 57, both executed by Léonard Gaultier, and 195 plates numbered I to CXCV, representing machines in action, hydraulic machines, movable bridges, forges, cranes, fountains, siege machines, a book wheel, etc., of which 20 are double-page. The plates numbered CXLVIII and CXLIX are printed on the same sheet. Opposite these plates is the explanatory text in Italian and French, placed in a very elegant typographic frame. Small crack without missing on the edge of the title-frontispiece, foxed margins, wetness in the margin and at the corner of some leaves. Trace of folding at the top of four leaves and a tiny crack without missing at the top of leaf 235. Remains of an old label on the first board.