1645 - Automata

Automata Knauss von, Friedrich Self-Writing Marvel Machines, as well as many other works of art and masterpieces, and numerous problems now solved. With an engraved frontispiece (portrait) and 11 (10 folded) copper plates. Vienna, self-published (Schulz-Gastheim), 1780. (18), 170, (2) pp. Contemporary leather binding with a red label. Poggendorff I, 1279. - UCBA II, 1098. - NDB XII, 162. - First and only edition of the description of his mechanical automata, written by Friedrich von Knauss (1724–1789) himself and published privately. Knauss, born in Aldingen am Neckar, worked as a watchmaker and mechanic in the service of Charles of Lorraine beginning in 1749 and followed him to Vienna in 1757, where Emperor Francis I Stephen appointed him court mechanic. At the Viennese court, he served as inspector of the mathematical-physical cabinet and rose to become one of the most important automaton builders of the 18th century. At the heart of his work were the self-writing machines; the most famous of these, the “all-writing or self-writing wonder machine” presented to Emperor Franz I in 1760, used springs, levers, and scanning mechanisms, imitated the writing motion of the human hand and was capable of writing 68 Latin characters; during its debut, the automaton composed a letter in French. This construction—a globe supported by two bronze eagles with six hinged segments, concealing the clockwork writing mechanism and crowned by an allegorical figure that transfers the specified letters to paper with a quill —is among the earliest known writing automata and, alongside those of the Jaquet-Droz family, is considered a milestone in the history of automata. In addition, Knauss developed a copying machine for the emperor that could produce multiple copies of a document simultaneously. The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) explicitly lists Knauss’s writing automaton in its overview of global computer history and describes it as a “programmable automatic handwriting machine.” Knauss thus follows in the tradition of 18th-century mechanical automata, which were the first to implement devices with complex, stored sequence programs—such as Jacques de Vaucanson’s flute player (1737) and its punch-card control system, later refined by Jacquard. — One copper plate trimmed slightly close to the border; two copper plates with minimal staining, one of which has two small restored holes (minimal loss of image); otherwise a good, clean copy. Very rare. First and only edition of the description of his mechanical automatons, written and published at his own expense by Friedrich von Knauss (1724–1789). Knauss, born in Aldingen am Neckar, worked from 1749 as a watchmaker and mechanic in the service of Charles of Lorraine and followed him to Vienna in 1757, where Emperor Franz I Stephan appointed him court mechanic. At the Viennese court, he served as inspector of the mathematical-physical cabinet and rose to become one of the most important builders of automatons of the eighteenth century. The core of his work consists of the self-writing machines, the most famous of which—the “all-writing” or “self-writing miraculous machine” presented to Emperor Franz I in 1760— imitated the writing motion of the human hand using a pen, levers, and cam mechanisms and was capable of writing 68 Latin characters; at its first demonstration, the automaton composed a letter in French. This construction—a globe supported by two bronze eagles with six hinged segments concealing the clockwork writing mechanism, crowned by an allegorical figure that commits the prescribed letters to paper with a pen—ranks among the earliest known writing automatons and, alongside those of the Jaquet-Droz family, is regarded as a milestone in the history of automatons. In addition, Knauss developed a copying machine for the emperor capable of producing several copies of a document simultaneously. The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) explicitly lists Knauss’s writing automaton in its overview of global computing history, describing it as a “programmable automatic handwriting machine.” Knauss thus takes his place in a lineage of eighteenth-century mechanical automatons that were the first to realize devices with a complex, stored sequence of operations—among them Jacques de Vaucanson’s flute player (1737) and its punch-card control system, later further developed by Jacquard. One copperplate trimmed rather close to the border, 2 copperplates with minimal foxing, of which 1 copperplate has 2 small restored pinholes (negligible loss to the image); otherwise, a fine, clean copy. Very rare. This lot is subject to standard taxation. A 24.95% premium applies to the hammer price, and 7% (books, art) or 19% value-added tax (manuscripts, screen prints, offset prints, photography) applies to the final invoice amount.