EN TIBI LECTOR ROBERTUM VALTURIUM AD ILLUSTREM HEROA SIGISMUNDUM PANDULPHUM MALATESTAM ARIMINENSIUM REGEM, DE RE MILITARI LIBRIS XII by VALTURIUS, Robertus. (Roberto Valturio).: - 1534

Parisiis, apud Christianum Wechelum, 1534.. multo emaculatius, ac picturis, quae plurimae in eo sunt, elegantioribus expressum, quam cum Veronae inter initia artis chalcographicae Anno M.cccclxxxiii invulgaretur. Latin text, 1534. Folio, approximately 320 x 210 mm, 12¾ x 8¼ inches, printer's pictorial device on title page and repeated on final page, 97 large woodcut illustrations, many full or almost full page, woodcut pictorial initials throughout, pages: (12), 383, (1), bound in full contemporary vellum, early hand lettering to spine, all edges red, endpapers replaced at sometime. Vellum darkened and with a small dark stain on lower cover, wrinkled across centre of upper cover, spine also wrinkled and with 1 tiny chip to vellum, pale damp stain to inner edge of first 3 leaves, another to lower inner corner of 13 leaves near the end, title page faintly foxed and missing tip of upper corner, pale age-browning to pages throughout, a very occasional small light stain, small closed tear to 2 inner margins at lower edge, another affecting 4 lines of text, all expertly repaired with no loss of text, 1 very small corner missing, small neat repair to lower inner edge of 2 adjacent leaves, 1 of them has a slight crease and is very slightly ragged at lower edge, the other is slightly ragged at fore-edge, not affecting text, small chip and tiny hole to fore-edge margin of last leaf, final page a little spotted. Binding tight and firm. Overall a very good clean copy. Roberto Valturio (1413 -1483) was an Italian military engineer to Sigismondo Malatesta, ruler of Rimini. This work was first printed in Latin in Verona in 1472 and was the first printed book to show technical military equipment. "The historical importance of the De Re Militari lies in the fact that it is the first book printed with illustrations of a technical or scientific character depicting the progressive engineering ideas of the author's own time. The Verona Valturius and its reprints were the handbooks of the military leaders of the Renaissance, and Leonardo da Vinci, when acting as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia, possessed a copy and borrowed some of its designs." Printing & the Mind of Man, page 7, No. 10. This edition was edited by Paolo Ramusio, who signs the preliminary dedication. The woodcuts are copies of those in the 1483 Italian edition. They show the equipment necessary for the military and naval engineer including weapons, revolving gun turrets, siege engines, platforms and ladders for sieges, battering rams, paddle wheels, flotation devices, a lifebelt, something resembling a tank, pontoon and other bridges, a completely closed boat that could be half submerged, etc. See: Cockle, A Bibliography of Military Books up to 1642, p.133, No. 501; Ruth Mortimer, Harvard College Library, Volume 2, page 656, No. 536; Spaulding & Karpinski, Early Military Books in the University of Michigan Libraries, page 2, No. 6; Dibner Library, Heralds of Science, revised edition, page 79, No. 172. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE. FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.