76 - (Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics) Lodovico RIVA Miscellanea. Venice, D. Lovisa, 1725.

€ 1000

Only edition of the first work by Lodovico Riva. Riva (1698-1746) was born in Venice and became a professor in the Gymnasium in Padua. His scientific publications refer mainly to hydraulics and astronomy. He acquired a large renown for his translation of the Hydraulics by Varignon, to which he added a volume of appendix. This volume contains four tracts, i. e. “De meteoro ignito, quod in Agro Tarvisino apparuit; De vi vaporum in hygrometris; Demonstrationes theorematum ad quadraturas spectantium; Prolusio habita in Gymnasio Patavino.”. The first tract is occasioned by the fall of a meteor near Tarvisio (at the border between Venice and Austria), and contains a history of the different observations on meteors, with information on their color, their chemical nature (fide Lemery) and their mineralogy. The second is an attempt to correct mathematically the divergences in the grade of humidity measured by hygrometers when certain vapors affect the tension of the fibre in use. The third part concerns the quadrature of the circle. Johann Bernoulli had provided a set of equations showing its impossibility, for which Riva provides a demonstration. The fourth is a prolusion read by Riva at his assumption of the position of professor at Padua, and lays emphasis on the study of astronomy and meteorology. Throughout the volume Galileo is cited and discussed, even though this has not been noticed by later bibliographers.

& Riccardi I/2, 381 and II/5, 140; Houzeau-Lancaster 8847; Crawford page 385; Macclesfield 1749 (this copy); not in Lalande, Cinti and Carli-Favaro.

77 - (Snow sculptures) Eugène Jean Baptiste comte de ROBIANO (and A. De Vries) Collection des desseins des figures colossales & des groupes qui ont été faits de neige. A Anvers, chez J. B. Carstiaenssens et M. Brüers (1772 or 1773).

€ 2000

Only edition. In the winter of 1772, from January 27 to February 1, severe weather conditions prevailed in Belgium. Several members of the Royal Academy of Design in Antwerpen took advantage from that occasion to create sculptures made of snow and ice. In order to perpetuate the memory of this uncommon achievement count Robiano, a high Austrian officer in the city, mandated the priest A. De Vries to compose a short text illustrating the sculptures, and had 24 plates accompanying the work engraved. The creation of these statues had somewhat paradoxical if one reflects that art is in general created with the purpose to last, which was clearly impossible with artefacts with such ephemeral material. One can discover in the snow statues of Antwerpen nothing else but adhesion to an assimilated neo-classical style, as demonstrated by their subjects: Sanson subjugating a lion or the kidnapping of Europe and even a portrait in bas-relief of the prince-heir Joseph II (on plate 15). Most of the sculptures had a height in the range from 2 to 4 meters, but one, a representation of Dionysus, was about 8 meters high and it was therefore only possible to include the central figure in the illustration. The short texts commenting the engravings provide information about the way of operating followed the sculptors and the location of the figures. Leaving free field to imagination we can see how Antwerpen was changed into a sort of theatrical scène. Some of the artists made their way in the domain of “serious art”; among them the name of J. B. Rubens, a scion of the family which gave the famous XVII century painter, is probably the most famous.

& Kat. Berl. 4222; J. Haskins (Snow sculpture, New York, Macmillan, 1974) page 49: Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine, gouverneur des Pays-Bas autrichiens (Exhibition, Brussels 1987), no V-11.

78 - (Geometry, Aritmetic, Music) Girolamo SALADINI Nuovo metodo delle proporzioni geometrica, aritmetica, ed armonica. Bologna, nella stamperia di S. Tommaso d'Aquino, 1761.

€ 1200

Girolamo Saladini (1731 – 1813), a monk, taught mathematics at the University of Bologna; he was a pupil of Vincenzo Riccati. His fame is due to the Institutiones Analyticae, a work he wrote with his teacher: “Riccati and Saladini wrote Institutiones Analyticae, in two volumes, published in Bologna in 1765 and in 1767. This work is considered one of the more important handbooks written in XVIII^th century, before Euler’s Institutiones calculi integralis.” (Bagni).

& Giorgio Tomaso Bagni (La didattica dell’analisi matematica nel Settecento : le Institutiones analyticæ di Vincenzo Riccati e Girolamo Saladini. In: Periodico di Matematiche, 7 (1997), no 4, p. 37-51). (online); not in Riccardi; RISM B VI (2), p.748; Eitner VIII, p. 389; not in Fetis and Grove.

79 - (Architecture) Federico SANVITALI Elementi di Architettura civile del Padre Federico Sanvitali della Compagnia di Gesù. Opera postuma, Brescia, Dalle Stampe di Giammaria Rizzardi. 1765.

€ 1200

First edition, published posthumously. The book is dedicated to Bartolomeo Fenaroli which coat of arms is depicted in the beautiful engraved head piece. Federico Sanvitali (Parma 1704 - Brescia 1761), a jesuit priest, "s'est distinguè surtout par son savoir dans toutes les branches relatives à la philosophie et aux mathèmatiques" (Feller). He taught mathematics in Brescia and was appointed librarian in the Jesuit Institute. This book is divided in three parts: the first one describes the different material (wood, stone, bricks, mortar and so on) to be employed, how to judge their quality and which kind is more fitting for different purposes. The second parts deals with the choice of the most suitable spot for a new building, according to his purpose and the geology and exposure of the place. The author also suggests how to arrange the different rooms (the granary in the highest floor, exposed to the sun; the library cannot be exposed to south or west, in order to avoid humid or warm winds, etc.), what has to be considered in the planning of doors and windows and so on. The third part deals with the right proportions of a building and the five orders of architecture. Sanvitali wrote this work in Latin and it was translated into Italian by his pupil the abbot Gasparo Antonio Turbini. According to Comolli this work is one of the few using a mathematical approach to architecture.

& Feller, VIII, 427-428; De Backer - Sommervogel, VII, 600-603; Avery p. 899; Berlin Katalog n. 2.634; Cicognara n. 649; Comolli IV, pp. 24-29; Poggendorff II, column 751; Riccardi II, column 422; Sommervogel VIII, p. 600; Hanno-Walter Kruft (A history of architectural theory from Vitruvius to the present. Princeton architectural Press, 1994) p. 195.

80 - (Aeronautics) Baron SCOTT Aérostat dirigeable à volonté. A l'aide de cette machine, les voyages qu'on entreprendra, quelque grands qu'ils soient, seront terminés avec succès. A Paris, chez Maradan, 1789.

€ 2700

Only edition. Baron Scott was an officer of the French army, whose dates and further activity are not referable for us. The vessel he projected was a fish-shaped balloon and was constructed according to the suggestions of Meusnier (1754-1793), a French engineer and airship pioneer. Meusnier proposed that like a ship on water, an airship should have a definite bow and stern and be longer than it was wide in order to proceed like a ship on water and be steered accordingly. The most original feature of Scott’s design was the introduction of two ‘ballonets’, or air pockets, at either end which could be inflated or deflated to increase the buoyancy at opposite ends of the balloon. Scott thought this feature would enable the ballonets to permit ascent or descent, increasing thus the forward motion. This is therefore the first proposal of a fish-shaped aircraft, which will become popular with the largely different Zeppelin.

& Brockett 11010; Tissandier 34; Liebmann-Wahl 1087; not in the Brug collection.

81 - (Optics) Lorenzo (and Domenico) SELVA Esposizione delle comuni, e nuove spezie di cannocchiali, telescopi, microscopi ed altri strumenti diottrici, catottrici e catodiottrici ... In Venezia, 1761, presso Giovanbattista Pasquali.

€ 3200

Only edition. The Venetian Domenico Selva (? - 1758) was Official Optician of the Republic of Venice, and a renowned instrument maker, who was considered the best Italian manufacturer along with Patrono in Milan. This is the first catalogue of his atelier, issued by his son Lorenzo (about 1716 –1800). Lorenzo will write in 1787 an extended catalogue of the products manufactured by him i. a. for several prominent scientist, including Boscovich. who preferred their instruments to those manufactured in England and considered achromatic lenses to be an invention of the Selva opticians rather than that of Dollond. This book contains the first description of a microscope which was awarded a prize by the Paris Academy of Sciences because it was purely catoptric, thus easier to construct and to use than a dioptric one. This microscope was derived from a reversed Gregorian telescope, and even though Lorenzo Selva had attributed this invention to his father in his letter to the French Academy, he claims it as his own in this book. The book is by four parts, discussing the physiology of vision and the use of spectacles, the telescopes, the microscopes and the different sorts of lenses, where i. a. the use of the flint glass is discussed. This last part includes a section on burning mirrors, dark chambers and magic lanterns, which were apparently a staple product of Selva atelier. The book is dedicated to the famous amateur scientist Francesco Algarotti, who wrote a famous divulgative book on Newton's physics.

& Duncan 12155; Riccardi I/2, 435; Boffito (Gli instrumenti della scienza) page 150; Harting (Das Mikroskop) III, 264; Daumas page 247.

82 - (Art exhibition, Paintings) A. J. B. SIMONNIN Gilles et Arlequin au muséum ou critique en vaudevilles des tableaux, dessins, sculptures, etc. Paris, de l'imprimerie de Jusseraud, Rue Saint Séverin, N. 144, no date (handwritten annotation: exposition de l'an X). Bound with: (Adr.-J.-Quentin BEUCHOT) L'enfant des six jours guide des étrangers au muséum ou le dernier venu. Paris, à l'imprimerie Expéditive et chez Martinet, Libr.; et Surosne, Libraire, An X^e (1801-1802).

€ 300

Ad1: Antoine-Jean-Baptiste Simonnin (Paris 1780 - 1856) was a writer, especially of theatrical plays; he produced about 200 pieces and also published Chansons sacrées et profanes (1856). He was a member of the Academy in Macon. Ad2: Beuchot (1773 - 1851) was a writer, scholar and bibliographer. He collaborated at the production of the Biographie Universelle, and was one of the main contributor of the first 48 volumes. The present work is a critical revue, in poetry, of the Salon of the year X. The publisher was not satisfied with the title and, barely six weeks later, he published a new edition under the title Les Croûtes au Musèum, where an epigram was added on the frontispiece and seven lines were replaced with an epigram about the portraits, numerous in the Salon of that year.

& Ad1: Quèrard (La France Litteraire) IX, 173 (does not mention this book); http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Simonnin. Ad2: Barbier II, p. 110e; Quèrard (La France Litteraire) I, 319-320 (does not mention this work); Quèrard (La Litterature Franç. contemp.) p. 441.

83 - (Judaica, Music) Spörl, J.C. Die Tauffe als der in das wahre Canaan einführende Jordan wird bey feyerlicher Tauff­Handlung zweyer zu Fürth gebohrner Juden, Vater und Sohns nemlich Lazarus Wolffs nunmehro Wilhelm Christian Christlieb und Samuel Lazari oder Lösers nunmehro Carl Hector Christlieb genannt zur Ermunterung dieser Christlichen Proselyten sowohl, als zur Erweckung der ganzen anwesenden Versammlung in der Kirche zu Burgg-Farrnbach den 2. Decembr. h.a. bey einer solenn-gehaltenen Kirchen-Music vorgestellet. (Nürnberg ?, no printer), 1733.

€ 500

Extremely rare German songtexts, written at the occasion of the baptism of 2 Jews from Furth, in the church of Burgfarrnbach (a quarter of Fürth in Bavaria), for the melody "Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan", and the melody "Gott Lob! ein Schritt zur Ewigkeit". Johann Konrad Spörl (Nürnberg 1701 - 1773), an evangelical preacher, was deacon of St. Aegidius in Nürnberg at the time of the present work; he was later appointed deacon of St. Lorentz and afterward Professor of theology and moral philosophy; he was the author of interalia a songbook. The original text for Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan was written by Martin Luther; the composer is unknown, although there is a possibility that Johann Walter might have been involved in its composition or adaptation. (www.bach-cantatas.com). The melody is known from a 16^th century hymnal, the Vopelius hymnal (1682) and Samuel Scheidt (Göerlitz, 1650); J. S. Bach used this melody in different compositions, among the others the cantata BWV7, written for the feast of St. John the Baptist. Several other composer, such as Wolff Heintz (c1490- 1552(?), Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), Dietrich Buxtehude (c1637 - 1707) and Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706) among the others, also used this melody. Which one was referred to by Spörl it is impossible to say; perhaps, due to the fact that it was intended for a Baptism, Bach's cantata, written to celebrate the Baptist, was used. About the second melody Gott Lob! ein Schritt zur Ewigkeit, we were not able to find any information. A hymn of this title was sang on the melody of Es ist gewißlich an der Zeit, (see: http://ingeb.org/spirigot.html) by Martin Luther, later arranged, among others, by J. S. Bach.

& (http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Sp%C3%B6rl,_Johann_Konrad); http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Christ-Jordan.htm; http://ingeb.org/spirigot.html; An exhaustive biography of Spörk can be found in: Döring (Heinrich) (Die gelehrten Theologen Deutschlands) IV, (1825) 274–277; Vgl. Will (Nürnbergisches Gelehrtenlexikon) III, 753 ff.; VIII, 273 ff.; Meusel (Lexikon) XIII, 242 ff; Eitner X, p. 230 ("Sörl's Liederbuch, MS 2856 in Hofb Wien, ... "); not in Fetis, Grove, Honegger.

84 - (Earthquakes) N. TEN KAATE (Neeltje Dirksdochter Beths Ten Kate) Ter erinnering van de verschrikkende aard-beeving; in de Nederlanden, en elders, voorgevallen: Op den 18den van Herfstmaand, in ‘t Jaar 1692. t' Amsterdam, By Albert Visscher, 1692. (Signed at the end N. Ten Kaate).

€ 750

Only edition of this poem about the earthquake that took place on the 18^th of September 1692. It was one of the worst earthquakes ever experienced in Europe, up to the strenght of 7 (on the basis of contemporary reports), spanning about 860 km (from the river Elbe until Great Britain) and with its epicentre around Tienen, in Belgium. A cold, extremely matter-of-fact report is given by Huygens, who was at that time in Hofwijck (Voorburg, The Netherlands), and published in his works, in the volume devoted to metheors and earthquakes: “1692, the 18th of September, in Hofwijck, near Voorburg, at 2,30 p. m., while I was reading a book, suddenly and not without being scared, I experienced an earthquake. The house was shaken, moving in such a way that the painting in the eating-room bumped against the walls. The stone floor were I found myself came up and down, and that happened several times in the span of 10 or 12 seconds. The channel around the house, 60 feet large, moved with wide waves trough the sides. ... There was no wind. ... (the earthquake) scared everybody also in Antwerpen and Amsterdam. Observers in Amsterdam noticed waves from Nord to South and everything was shaking. Especially the belfries waved amazingly and in some of them the bells began to peal on their own account. ... Everywhere in Zeeland, Flanders, Cologne, Paris, London and Scotland the same movement was experienced. In Hamburg it was not observed. In Liège it was stronger, not without some damage ...”. (Freely translated from the Latin original and the Dutch translation given in: http://www.xs4all.nl). Not as scientifically oriented as Huygens, our poet vividly describes the facts in all their scaring suddenness and violence, and blames the human sins to have deserved such a terrible divine punishment. Anyhow, the report is quite accurate, and the earthquake occurred on the 7^th of June of the same year in Port Royal (Jamaica), is also cited (“Jamaike zag nog korts dit aakelijk verderven, / En droevig treur-toneel; dat duizenden dèe sterven.”). About the author, exhaustive information can only be found in http://hans.is-s.info/genweb/familieblad/; the author of this, quite interesting, site, was able to trace behind the name “N. Ten Kaate”, given at the end of the poem, a certain Neeltje Dirksdochter Beths, second wife of a Hendrik Lambertsz. Ten Kate (or Ten Cate). The same source gives also information about several other poems by N. D. Beths and her biography. We were able to trace only two other copies of this poem: in the Dutch Royal Library (Catalogue Knuttel) and in Leiden University Library; a further one seems to be present in the BN Paris. Apparently, no copies are present in the other main Libraries worlwide.

& Knuttel 13810; http://www.xs4all.nl/~adcs/Huygens/19/meteores2-v.html#311; http://hans.is-s.info/genweb/familieblad/HARP%20EN%20LIERZANGEN%20ONZER%20NAAMGENOTEN%20DEEL%20VII.htm (as no e-mail or other address is given in this site, we were not able to contact his author in order to ask the necessary permission to report here the information about N. Ten Kaate. We apologise and, in the hope not to have been of any offence, will be pleased if he (she?) will contact us).

85 - (Swimming) M. Thévenot L'Art de Nager, demontré par Figures. Avec des avis pour se Baigner utilement. Paris, Thomas Moette, 1696.

€ 2500

First edition of the first book on swimming in the French language, one of the earliest manuals on the subject. Thomas counts six French editions, a pirated one appeared possibly in that same 1696, another one (identical to the present one) in 1769, a completely different one in 1782, which was reprinted in 1786 and 1825. Three English editions appeared in 1699, 1764 and 1789. Melchisedech Thevenot (Paris, 1620 or 1621 – Issy 1692) was “one of the most important correspondents linking Paris to the rest of the European scientific world. He influenced the organization of the French Academy of Sciences and was an intimate of Christiaan Huygens, Henry Oldenburg, Adrien Auzout, and numerous other mid-XVII century personages. He was appointed keeper of the Royal Library in 1684 and admitted as a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1691 … Drawing on previous books by Everard Digby and Nicolaas Winman (sic for Wijnman), Thévenot wrote a primer on swimming that was published after his death as L’art de nager (Paris 1696) and went through numerous illustrated French and English editions over the next century.” (DSB). “Thévenot’s book being the first, and for a long time the only one popularly known, was in high repute. The great American philosopher Franklin, of swimming renown (Franklin wrote himself a tract on the subject) used it … (Thomas).  The fine illustrative plates are unsigned. It would be tempting to attribute them to a relative or a descendant of the publisher, the engraver Charles Moette, but this last is signalled by Portalis and other authors to have engraved only the illustrations (very different from the present ones) accompanying the 1782 edition of the present book. The question of the authorship of these illustrations, given the little knowledge we have about the life of Charles Moette, must thus remain unanswered. The plates are twice numbered, the numbers in Latin corresponding with the chapters in the book, the numbers in Arabic with the pagination of the book. The number of plates varies in many instances; our copy agrees with the number provided by Thomas.

& Hofer (Baroque Book Illustration) 56; Thomas (Swimming, London 1904) pages 180-181; DSB XIII, pages 334-337; Lipperheide Thb1 (only 32 plates); G. Portalis (Les dessinateurs d’illustration au XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1877, but reprint Hissink, Amsterdam, 1970) page 709.

86 - (Quimper pottery) (P. THOME) Watercolours, patterns for pottery dishes. No place and date, second half of the XIX century.

€ 2700

Beautiful collection of watercolours depicting decorated dishes in the traditional Quimper style: men and women wearing the typical dresses, flowers, birds and also two with the script w la libertè and w la nation. Quimper, in Brittany, thanks to the proximity of rivers, has been a pottery town since the times of the Roman Empire. The modern Faienceries (faïence is distinguished from other kinds of pottery on the basis of the glaze, opacified with tin oxide which makes this earthware impervious to liquids) originate in 1690 when Jean Bousquet, a ceramist from the Provence, started a pottery workshop. Several factories were active in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The monogram HR identifies the Henriot factory (for an exhaustive history of the Quimper’s faïenceries we refers to the specialized bibliographies given below). We were not able to find any mention of P. Thome in any bio-bibliography. According to Roullot (p. 85) “Les fabrication de Quimper n’ont aucune marque de fabrique avant la deuxième moitié du XIX siècle”. Meadows (p.210) also states that “Although some eighteenth century examples exist, the regular use of marks began about 1870.” And (p. 205): “… the petit Breton motif made its first appearance about 1860.” All this seems to date these watercolours about the second half of the nineteenth century. A special mention deserves the nice ‘Fortuna’ watermark: “Fortuna came to be revered as the arbiter of chance and destiny. She is represented as a nude standing tiptoe on a globe, the whole, in the manner of much classical statuary, set upon a plinth. The figure holds in each hand the ends of a strip of textile floating above her head. The circular object on which the figure teeters may denote a ball, the instability of the pose representing the uncertainty of fortune. … Heawood's Watermarks, mainly of the 17th and 18th centuries includes two tracings of the figure … in association with the countermark ‘VD L Van Gelder’. … According to Heawood, Van der Ley and the Blauws were Dutch papermakers who made great strides in the 18th century, followed a little later by the Van Gelder firm; he also states that the 'Fortune figure' was used by Van der Ley and Van Gelder at the ‘Fortuyn’ mill. … The Fortuyn paper mill was owned by Van der Lay and his family from 1774 to 1837, during which time the mill used the 'Fortune figure' and similar watermarks.” (Coghlan and Hamilton).

& M. J. Roullot (Les Faïences artistiques de Quimper au XVIII et XIX siècles); A. Meadows (Quimper pottery); M. Taburet (La faïence de Quimper, Paris 1979); S. Blottière (Trois siècles de Faïence 1690-1990); K. Coghlan and B. Hamilton in: http://www.nga.gov.au/Conservation/Watermarks/details/Fortune.cfm; Heawood E. (Watermarks, mainly of the 17th and 18th centuries, Hilversu, Holland: The Paper Publications Society, 1950) p. 26.

87 - (Architecture, Denmark) L. Laurids De Thurah Le Vitruve Danois contient les plans, les élévations et les profils des principaux batimens du Roiaume du Dannemark aussi bien que des provinces allemandes dépendentes du Roi, avec une courte description de chaque batiment en particulier ... Den Danske Vitruvius ... Der Dänische Vitruvius ... Copenhagen, Emil Henrich Berling, 1746-1749.

€ 8000

Only edition, all published. A third volume saw the light only in 1967. The plates (most unsigned, the other signed M. Keyl or C. L. Wüst) depict the most important buildings and gardens of whole Denmark. Beyond its importance as an architectural record of late Baroque in Northern Europe, this book has important historical value as depicting many aspects of Copenhagen before the devastations inflicted by the British during the Napoleonic wars. “Parallel to Dahlberg’ efforts in Sweden was the work of the Danish architect Lauritz Lauridsen de Thurah (1706-1759), the most significant representative of the late Baroque architecture in Denmark. Thurah began his project much later than Dahlberg. After cadet studies in Copenhagen, he received instruction as an officer and military engineer in 1725-1727, studies that also embraced architectural training. Travels to Germany, Italy, France, Holland, and England further broadened his horizons. Shortly after his return to Denmark he received the appointment of royal architect and went on to enjoy a distinguished and prolific architectural career. The first volume of the grand folio Den Danske Vitruvius, depicting in 120 plates the public and royal buildings of Copenhagen, appeared in 1746. The second volume, recording buildings in other parts of Denmark, followed three years later... The trilingual text (Danish, French and German), however, suggested higher ambition than a topological guide. Thurah noted in his preface that he wanted to present a comprehensive history of recent architecture in Denmark in order to demonstrate that this country too-like its larger European neighbours-possessed many examples of beauty and magnificence in the art of architecture. All works chosen by him are classical in style and various of his own designs are represented. It is again an admirable effort in its intention and level of pictorial detail” (Millard Collection). “Quest’opera eseguita con molto lusso attesta lo stato delle arti in quella parte Nordica dell’Europa nell’epoca in cui fu pubblicata. Ma da quel tempo in poi i progressi delle arti vengono spinti a un molto maggiore incremento e grandi speranze puó concepire quel regno felice per la molta protezione che a’nobili studi accordasi dagli attuali Principi Reali, ai quali hanno incessantemente diretto l’ingegno ed il cuore” (Cicognara).

& Millard Collection III, pages 38-39 and number 131; Cicognara 4115; Kat. Berl. 2259.

88 - (Numismatics) Pierre Ancher TOBIESEN-DUBY Recueil Général des Pieces Obsidionales et de Nécessité, gravées dans l'ordre chronologique des événemens: avec l'explication, dans l'ordre alphabétique, des faits historiques qui ont donné lieu à leur fabrication ... Paris, chez la Veuve de l'Auteur ... et chez Debure l'aîné, 1786.

€ 1500

Only edition. Pierre Ancher Tobiesen-Duby (Housseau 1721 – Paris 1782) was a captain of infantry in the French army, who became later interpreter of the Bibliothèque du Roi and of the Royal Admiralty Council. He wrote several books on numismatics. This book, his last one, was edited by Abraham Joseph Michelet d'Ennery (1709 - 1786), an expert numismatist and advisor of the art merchant and auctioneer Pierre Remy. Michelet used a manuscript in possession of Duby’s widow. Duby had based his book on the collection of the Chevalier de Boullongne. The book concerns the siege-pieces and emergency coinage issued by different town during the XVI through the XVIII centuries. Pieces issued throughout Europe are reproduced, with many specimens of Dutch interest. The book ends with a supplement of “recréations numismatiques”, where different uncommon coins are described and reproduced. “Ce recueil est bien supérieur, comme plan et comme science, à l’ouvrage plus complet, publié de nos jours par M. Mailliet. Duby ne s’est pas contenté de dresser un aride catalogue; il a mis sans cesse sous les yeux du lecteur, à côté de la description et de la figure des obsidionales, la narration des circonstances qui ont provoqué la fabrication de ces monnaies exceptionnelles” (Engel and Serrure).

& Lipsius (Bibliotheca numaria) page 106: Engel and Serrure (Traité de numismatique moderne et contemporaine, Paris, Leroux, 1897-1899), page 315.

89 - (Perspective) Giuseppe TORELLI Elementorum Prospectivae. Libri II. Opus Posthumum. Recensuit et edidit Ioan. Baptista Bertolini, Verona, Ex Officina Moroniana (colophon: Veronae typis Heredum Murci Moroni Idib. Mart. 1788). The appprobation is dated 1787.

€ 2000

Only edition, published posthumously. Giuseppe Torelli (Verona 1721 - 1781) studied law, had a broad knowledge of languages, and was much interested in sciences, mathematics above all. He translated from Greek and Latin, wrote poems and produced several scientific works. For an exhaustive bio-bibliography see Pindemonte. The beautiful portrait is engraved by Innocenzo Alessandri (Venezia, b. about 1740) a pupil of Francesco Bartolozzi (Benezit).

& I. Pindemonte (Elogi di letterati Italiani. Seconda edizione, Milano, Silvestri, 1829) II, 92-146 (online); Poggendorff II, 1.117; Riccardi, II, 539; Vagnetti, EIVb68; Benezit (1966) I, 91.

90 - (Pottery, Trade catalogue) Josiah Wedgwood Catalogue de camées, intaglios, médailles, buste, petites statues, et bas-reliefs avec une description générale des vases, et autres ornements d’après les antiques fabriqués par Wedgwood et Bentley. Et qui se vendent à leur magazin dans Greek-Street, Soho, à Londres. Troisième édition considérablement augmentée. Londres, chez T. Cadell and Amsterdam, Changuion, 1774.

€ 3000

Third enlarged edition of the catalogue of the Wedgwood factory, rediged by the same Josiah Wedgwood. The first catalogue of this series had appeared only the previous year, with less pages. Editions in French had appeared simultaneously to the English ones, to secure sale on the Continental market. These catalogue contained essentially a list of the manufacts available for sale at the publication date. However, an additional reason of interest is the fact that Wedgwood states here, in the last part, his opinion on trade, stressing the effort made by his firm to achieve absolute quality and criticizing sharply the manufacturers of cheap objects which threatened his position. The emphasis laid by Wedgwood on the necessity of luxus characterizes him as a bona fide merchantilist. This is the first catalogue which mentions the Jasper, a new ceramic material manufactured by the firm and which would have become the favorite of Wedgwood himself due to its beauty in combination with its versatility. It is described as “une composition de terre cuite, qui ressemble au Porphyre, au Lapis, au Jaspe et à d’autres Pierres très belles, de l’Espèce des Verres et des Cristaux.”. “Jasper, the most famous of Josiah’s inventions, appeared first in 1774, and was the result of many experiments ... Jasper is an unglazed vitreous fine stoneware or semi-porcelain. It has been made in several shades of blue,in green, lilac, yellow, maroon, black or white, ands sometimes one piece combined three or more of these colours. Some of the finest examples of Jasper were made of one coloured body ‘dipped’ in another colour, and the edges polished and bevelled so that the base colour showed through. The white classical reliefs on a coloured ground are too well known to need description ... Wedgwood prized Jasper above all his productions ...” (Reilly I). “After numerous trial pieces, he was able to produce a stoneware, opaque and hard, from which he could make bas relief in white, with various coloured backgrounds obtained by adding coloured oxides to white clay mixture. Firing brought out the colours in the clay body. The bas relief was made by pressing the clay into intaglio moulds and applying the model by hand to the coloured clay body.” (Klamkin). “We may almost regard the jasper body as finely divided barium sulphate witht the addition of the smallest possible amount of clay which would enable the potter to fashion it into shape by the usual methods and fire it successfully.” (Burton). “The failure of the European porcelain manufacturers satisfactorily to adapt to changing taste, all combined to offer a magnificent opportunity to a potter of vision and technical ability ... Wedgwood and Bentley were, above all, the potters of neo-classicism and they were without serious rivals in the field” (Reilly II).

& Solon (Ceramic literature) page 444 (only English editions); R. Reilly (The story of  Wedgwood, Faber & Faber, London, 1962) pages 29-30; M. Klamkin (The Collector's Book of Wedgwood, New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1971), page 53; W. Burton (Josiah Wedgwood and his pottery, Cassell and Co. Ltd., London 1922) page 68; R. Reilly (Josiah Wedgwood 1730-1795, London: Macmillan,1992) page 152.

91 - (Architecture) Nicola Zabaglia Castelli e ponti ... con alcune ingegnose pratiche, e con la descrizione del trasporto dell’Obelisco Vaticano, e di altri del cavaliere Domenico Fontana. In Roma 1743, nella stamperia di Niccolò e Marco Pagliarini.

€ 7000

First edition, reprinted in 1823. Traditionally attributed to Zabaglia, the real author was identified as Lelio Cosatti because Zabaglia was completely illiterate. Maestro Nicola Zabaglia (1664-1750) was the foremost builder in Rome during the last decades of the XVII and the first half of the XVIII century; he was i. a. charged with the restoration and consolidation works to the Vatican dome after the earthquakes of 1703 and 1730. His experience, as evident, was remarkably practical and nourished by no written source. His book is a complete treatise on the most remarkable aspects of Roman architecture, i. e. construction and restoration of vaults and ceiling, erection of appropriate scaffolding, transport and hoisting of heavy weights, exemplified by the transport of the Vatican Obelisk, which was erected by Domenico Fontana with techniques substantially unchanged until the days of Zabaglia. An engraving by Specchi after Natale Bonifacio illustrates this enterprise; it is accompanied by two more engravings who depict particulars of Fontana’s masterwork which were not sufficiently illustrated in the two editions of Fontana’s work. Some copies have plates (the complete suite was composed of 6 engravings) from the suite of Albertini on the suspended bridge which hung in the Vatican during Zabaglia’s works; these plates are mostly found in presentation copies and are not an integral part of the book, as evident from the text.

& Riccardi II/2: “Bellissima e rara edizione ...” (with 2 out of the 6 Albertini plates); Cicognara 968; Honeyman 3149 (with 1 Albertini plate); Kat. Berl. 2755; Brunet V, 1515: “Ouvrage curieux et fort recherché”; Millard IV. 166: “This is the first publication to present engineering solutions for the raising and transportation of building materials …”; not in Fowler.

92 - (Metallurgy) Gio. Gerolamo ZANICHELLI De Ferro ejusque praeparatione dissertatio in qua varia de ipso metallo explicantur ... Venetiis (no printer), 1719.

€ 500

Second and last edition (first published 1713), the only one in 4to, of "...an interesting work on the metallurgy of iron as well as its medical preparations" (Duveen). The author, Giovanni Gerolamo Zanichelli (1662-1729), born in Modena, was a pharmacist in Venise and "... a distinguished scientist, keenly interested in chemistry, mineralogy and petrology, who formed an important natural history cabinet in Venise" (Duveen, loc. cit.). Zanichelli discusses also the various minerals containing iron and its impurities, alongside with the ore deposits in Europe. The preparation and characterization of iron snow, a microcrystalline form of iron, occupies the pages 30-35; its medical uses are also discussed. ":.. notable for containing the earliest known illustration of a dendritic crystal of the metal itself" (Hoover). Both the editions of this book appear to be somewhat scarce.

& Duveen 631; Hoover 904; Cobres II, 720-21 (this edition); Ferchl 593 (edition 1713); Sabia (Vallisneri) 297 (a pyramidal iron crystal, represented in the plate, was found by Vallisneri, who also enriched Zanichelli’s collection with some of his discoveries); not in Ferguson, Kopp and Hoefer.

93 - (Tobacco, Dalmatia) ZUCCHINI Andrea (Cortona XVIII secolo), Lettera (...) sopra lo Stabilimento a Tabacchi di Nona nella Dalmazia, no place (Zara o Firenze), no publisher, 1790.

€ 950

First edition. Andrea Zucchini was an Italian botanist. He mainly published short works of few pages, generally inserted in miscellaneous collection and thus difficult to be found. That is possibly why he never reached the fame he deserved. This work is about the efforts made by Manfrin to create a factory for the culture and processing of tobacco in Nona (Dalmatia). "Account of the visit made by some noted agrarians who inspected the flourishing tobacco plantations of the Venetian state at None in Dalmatia. These plantations had been established by the farmer General Count G. Manfrin. Zucchini, professor of Agriculture in Florence, illustrated his account with the engraving of the tobacco factory at None shown. This factory received the crops of five hundred neighbourhood fields"(Brooks). "È stesa colla maggior precisione possibile. Vi sono tratto tratto picciole disgressioni che abbracciano alcuni precetti generali pel bene dell'agricoltura. Narransi dei fatti agrarj, in particolare della Toscana" (Re). This work is dedicated to Cavalier Marco Martelli from Florence.

& J. Brooks (Books manuscripts and drawings relating to tobacco from the collection of George Arents Jr., Library of Congress, Washington D.C., 1938) n. 61; Bigazzi n. 5.461; Cini n. 89, with illustration; Niccoli pag. 237; Re vol. IV, pag. 230; Valentinelli n. 609.

Games and Pastimes

Board games

94 - (Board games) Alessandro Sappa (Alessandria 1717 - 1783) Il giuoco dell'oca (Canzonetta anacreontica), Verona, Tipografia di Pietro Bisesti, 1822.

€ 200

Possibly first edition, published posthumously. It also include the poem "il sonno" (the sleep). The last two pages are a publisher's catalogue of poems on various subjects. In this amusing poem the author describes the virtues of the game gioco dell'oca (the game of the goose). According to the author the origin of the game can be traced back to Roman times, namely to the legend of the geese that rescued the Capitol from the Gauls. Alessandro Sappa (Alessandria 1717 - 1783) founded the Agenzia Poetica Torinese and was Principe Accademico of the Accademia degli Immobili. For an exhaustive biography, see Vallauri.

& Tommaso Vallauri (Storia della poesia in Piemonte, Torino, Chirio e Mina, 1841) II, pp. 85-87; 2 copies in I.C.C.U.

Card games

95 - (Playing cards). ANON Declaration Du Roi, Qui Ordonne Le Retablissement Du Droit D'un Sol Six Deniers Sur Chaque Jeu De Cartes. Du 16. Fevrier 1745. Registrée En Parlement Le 8. Avril Suivant. A Dijon, chez Pierre De Saint, seul Imprimeur du Roi & du Parlement, (1745).

€ 275

From 1701 to 1719 a tax was levied on playing cards. It was later reinstated as the least painful way to augment the finances of the State.

96 - (Playing cards) Saverio BettineLLI Il giuoco delle carte. Poemetto dell'Abate Saverio Bettinelli con Annotazioni, Cremona, Lorenzo Manini & Comp., 1774.

€ 400

First edition. Saverio Bettinelli (Mantua 1718 - Modena 1808), a Jesuit, was a member of the Accademia degli Arcadi under the names of Adaride Filonero and Diodoro Delfico. He wrote several works, mainly poems. In the present work he mainly discusses gamble, which he considers better fit for a poem, because of the passion which can arise ("Benché molti sieno i Giuochi delle Carte, qui non di meno si mira a quelli, che diconsi giuochi di Fortuna, o con adottato vocabolo d'«azzardo», poiché questi esser ponno argomento di Poema, siccome lo sono di gran vicende, e passioni" «Annotazioni», p. 15). The author also discuss the origin of card games and he assumes that it can be dated between 1400 and 1500 on the basis that no previous record have been found, and that before the invention of woodcut it would have been to expensive paint each card separately. ("Si pone l'uso delle Carte da Giuoco tra il 1400 e il 1500, perché allor famigliare venuto, e perché ricordiam volentieri agl'italiani, o a conforto, o a rimprovero, quell'età. (...) Sembra potersi dire, che prima del 1400 non trovansi indizj di quelle, e che debbono esser nate dopo l'invenzion dell'intaglio in legno, perché troppo sarebbe costato dipingere ogni carta a pennello." «Annotazioni», p. 16). Actually, the history of playing card is older than that and they were indeed hand-painted and very expensive: "The earliest playing cards are believed to have originated in Central Asia. The documented history of card playing began in the 10th century, when the Chinese began using paper dominoes by shuffling and dealing them in new games. Four-suited decks with court cards evolved in the Moslem world and were imported by Europeans before 1370. In those days, cards were hand-painted and only the very wealthy could afford them, but with the invention of woodcuts in the 14th century, Europeans began mass-production." (http://www.usplayingcard.com)

& A. Lensi (Bibliografia italiana di giuochi di carte. Ravenna, Longo, 1985) p. 50 n. 12.2 (a later ed., Venezia 1778); De Backer - Sommervogel I, column 1419 mn. 18; DBI IX, 739; Vittore Branca (Dizionario critico della letteratura italiana, Torino, UTET, 1986) I, 312; Laterza (Dizionario enciclopedico della letteratura italiana, Bari - Roma, Laterza - Unedi, 1966 - 1970) pag. 358; http://www.usplayingcard.com/gamerules/briefhistory.html.

97 - (Playing cards) (J. -B. BULLET) Historisch Onderzoek Over De Speelkaerten. Uit Het Fransch Vertaald. Te Utrecht, By H. van Emenes, Boekverkoper, 1780.

€ 350

Dutch translation of a book published in French in 1753 with the title Recherches historiques sur les cartes à jouer. Bullet (Besançon 1699-1775) was a professor in theology. Nice booklet on the history of playing cards with on pages on the invention of paper. Pages 91-95 contain a description of the game called 'Hombre'. About the French edition Quérard says "Ècrit rare et curieux".

& Quérard (La France littéraire) I, pp. 562-563; OCLC 7489206 (for this edition); for a history of playing cards see also http://www.usplayingcard.com/gamerules/briefhistory.html.

98 - (Playing cards) Edmond HOYLE Traité du Jeu de Whist. Traduit de l'Anglois. Turin Chez Les Freres Reycends & Guibert, 1765.

€ 2500

First edition printed in Italy. “Trained to become a barrister, in 1741 Hoyle (England 1672 - London 1769) began working as a Whist tutor to members of high society. Along with personal instruction, he sold a short booklet on the game to his clients, describing his basic approaches to Whist. The booklet became quite popular, and unauthorized copies of it were circulated about London. To prevent this, Hoyle published A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist in 1742, copyrighting his work. Because of his success, Hoyle followed with similar treatises on Backgammon, Chess, Quadrille, Piquet, and Brag). In 1750, a single compendium of these was published. The first fifteen editions of Hoyles' works are now extremely rare and mostly only to be found in the hands of collectors. Only two copies of Hoyle's original work on whist (the first edition) are known to still exist (one of them is in the Bodleian Library) and only one copy of his work on Backgammon (at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center). A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist was regarded as authoritative until 1864, after which time they have been superseded by the new rules adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs in that year. The weight of his authority is indicated by the phrase "according to Hoyle" which doubtless first applied to Whist, has gained currency as a general proverb” “A partir de 1761, le whist triomphe; on compte pas moins de quatre traductions du célèbre traité de Hoyle parues autour de 176065 (Berne 1761, Londres 1763, Amsterdam et Paris 1764, plusieurs fois reéditée, et Turin 1765). A partir de 1766, toutes les Académie universelle des jeux incluent le texte de Hoyle dans leurs volumes.” (Depaulis). Beyond the above French translations also German, Dutch, Russian and Portuguese translations are known.

& http://edmund-hoyle.biography.ms/: T. Depaulis (Les loix du jeu: bibliographie de la litérature technique des jeux de carte

99 - (Playing cards, Painting, Drawing) Johann Anton Tischbein Unterricht zur gründlichen Erlernung der Mahlerey. Hamburg, gedruckt und verlegt von Michael Christian Bock, 1771. (Bound with) Georg Wolfgang KNORR Vorbericht zu der Blumen-Zeichen-Kunst (Nuremberg, about 1770). (And with:) ANON Zwei und dreyssig neue Kartenkünste zu einem angenehmen Zeitvertreib in Gesellschaften. Frankfurt and Leipzig, no publisher, 1773.

€ 3000

A fine convolute, possibly made for the use of a girl of the high society. This impression is given by the fact that the first owner (the binding looks strictly contemporary) has bound after the purely practical and unillustrated tract of Tischbein an unrecorded prospectus of a later work of Knorr, most probably “Auserlenes Blumen-Zeichenbuch für Frauenzimmer …”, appeared in the same decade, in order to add instructions and examples to draw a preferred subject. Knorr was dead in 1761 and this prospectus hints at his demise as it is signed “the late engraver Knorr” Flower drawing was considered an activity especially suitable for girls. The impression that the convolute had been made for a girl is strengthened by the fact that a tract on card tricks (suggesting salon life) is bound at the end. Johann Anton Tischbein (Haina in Hesse, 1720 – Hamburg 1784) began his career as scribe in Frankfurt, then he moved to Paris where he worked at the Gobelin manufacture, then migrated to Italy together with his brother Johann Heinrich. He left Italy in 1751 for the Netherlands, where he resided for some years. He settled in Hamburg in 1766 and opened a school of painting which enjoyed widespread success. This is the manual Anton Tischbein wrote for the benefit of his pupils. The present manual was favourably received in artistic circles and procured Tischbein the appointment to professor of drawing at the Johanneum, the most prestigious school in Hamburg. The manual is divided in six section, dealing with subjects such as imitation, taste and beauty in the first chapter, optics, perspective and anatomy in the second, history of costume, different genres of painting, the disposition of the painter toward the subject of his painting, and the practical instructions for painting different objects. A large section deals with colours. The prospectus of the book of Knorr is unrecorded, as we can surmise for this sort of advertisement, and has been probably published in Nuremberg. The book on flower drawing was the last book published with plates from the bequest of Knorr, and took some more years to appear. The third book, whose author is not known, contains 32 card tricks. This sort of books was used up and only few copies survive. This is also the case of the present book, which brings the indication “eighth edition” on title, but is present (all editions together from the first through the 10th) in only 9 copies in KVK (no copy of this edition).

& Ad1) Schlosser/Magnino, page 680; UCBA 1990; not in Cicognara. Ad2) Unrecorded. Ad3) Congress Library no. 8292687 (edition 1768).

CHESS

100 - (Chess) Gioacchino Greco Le jeu des eschets traduit de l’Italien … A Paris, chez la veuve Pepingué, 1669.

€ 4200

First French edition, reprinted many times until the second half of the following century. An English edition, much less complete, had preceded the present one in 1656. The original Italian, though widespread in manuscripts (the oldest preserved one dated 1619), was published in book form only during the XIX century. Gioacchino Greco (Celico in Calabria, about 1600 – West Indies, 1634), born from a humble family, learned in young age to play chess. He went in 1618 to Rome, where he developed into a mature player and had the occasion to play against several members of the nobility. He revealed real talent and soon he was declared the best player of Italy. Enjoying this fame, in 1621 he went to Paris where he challenged noted champions as Arnauld de Courbeville, Monsieur Chaumont, De la Salle and the Duke of Nemours, and defeated them all, playing against them individually or together. He gained strong sums during this Parisian experience, which he lost in a robbery as soon as he arrived in England in 1622. Despite his numerous victories, his English period was not happy and in 1623 he came back to Paris where his fame had not survived. He tried to become famous again and produced several manuscript copies of his treatise in order to ingratiate possible patrons. These manuscripts were different from the previous ones he had previously compiled in Italy and France, because he had conceived in England the idea to record whole matches rather than single positions. In an attempt to restore his fame he moved to Spain, where he beat Don Mariano Morano, the second best player in Europe. He moved about 1634 to West Indies together with Jesuit friends and died there shortly afterwards. This French version is much more complete than the English ones and was also often integrally reprinted in the different Académies des Jeux and other collections. The style of Greco was subject to several criticisms from contemporary and later writers. Greco described often matches where the white player was extremely strong, whereas the black one much less; this led to a disparity of forces, which caused the white always to win. However, Greco had understood that a brilliant move would have captured the attention of the readers irrespective of the weakness of the competitor, and gives many examples of brilliant moves. Despite the fact that some of his matches are derived from those of Polerio or Ruy Lopez, even an acribious critic as Ponziani was obliged to admit the brightness and interest of many of the combinations of Greco, especially the gambits, which he treated more completely than any other contemporary player. Thus, the treatise of Greco, beside its technical interest, is the most entertaining and amusing among the works of the old masters.

& Van der Linde (Das erste Jahrtausend der Schachliteratur) 985; Van der Linde (Geschichte) I, pages 363-364; Schmid (Literatur des Schachspiels, Vienna 1847) page 188: “Vielleicht die erste vollständige Ausgabe”; Zollinger 125; A. Chicco-A. Rosino (Storia degli scacchi in Italia, Marsilio 1990) pages 111-115; Gay (Bibliographie anecdotique du jeu des échecs) pages 193-194 (with fantastic dates but accurate commentary).

Paper-folding

101 - (Paper folding) R. BÈCOURT Arte di costruire ogni sorta di oggetti in rilievo e in carta per servire ad istruzione e passatempo della gioventù d'ambedue i sessi. Firenze, per V. Batelli e figli, 1830.

€ 350

Italian translation of a book originally published in French (Paris, 1828). In this work instructions are given to make all kind of objects (furniture, houses, churches, castels, bridges, ships, sledges, and so on) with paper and glue. The purpose of the book, according to the translator's introduction, is to entertain young people with a purposeful and amusing occupation, to avoid the risk of idleness but without charge them with tasks too eavy. Some basic principles of geometry, recipes to prepare different kinds of glue, instructions to cut and fold the paper, are among the subjects discussed. The frontispiece depict a family where both children and adults are busily producing all kind of objects in paper. A review of the Italian edition was publishe d in the magazine Antologia. A charming little work.

& Review published in: Antologia Giornale di Scienze, lettere e arti, Firenze, Vieusseux (editor), ol. XLIV n. 130 della collezione, vol IV n. 10 del secondo decennio, Ottobre 1831 pp. 127-131.

Tangram

102 - ANON Metamorfosi del giuoco detto L'enimma chinese. Firenze, presso Gius. Landi Libraio sul Canto di via de Servi, 1818.

€ 2500

First edition. Tangram, a very popular game of Chinese origin, is a puzzle made of 7 pieces called tans (two small triangles, one medium-sized triangle, two large triangles, a square and a rhomboid), which aim is to compose different figures using all the pieces, that must touch but not overlap. Several variants can be obtained dividing simple geometrical figures like squares, rectangles or circles. The most known variants are Pythagoras (based on a square as the classical tangram but composed from 4 triangles, 2 squares and one parallelogram), Kreuzbecher and Alle Neune (both rectangle-based, 7 and 9 pieces respectively), Circular puzzle (circle, 12 pieces), the Broken Heart (heart-shaped, 8 pieces) and Magic Egg (9 pieces). The number of figures that can be composed with Tangram (and with all other variants known) can be counted in thousands. The oldest tangram known is dated 1802; the first book about tangram was published in China in 1813. No copy of this book are known, but a replica was published in Japan in 1839. Two more books were published in 1815 from the same publisher of the 1813 edition. The first edition outside China was published in 1817 in London, followed on the Continent by a book in France, later the same year. Also of 1817 is the first Italian Tangram book, a copy of the British one. "But in 1818 G. Landi of Florence, Italy, produced Metamorfosi del Giuoco detto l'Enimma Chinese, a beautiful book of 100 miniature pictures of architectural features such as monuments, buildings, fountains and bridges that were so artistically made that each problem was a beautiful picture. And many of the Tangram problems in two other Italian books published during the craze were new designs. … However after the craze of 1817-1818 no new Italian Tangram books appear to have been published until recently." (Slocum, p. 36). "This is one of the most beautiful series of Tangram problem published anywhere and shows that the Tangram craze was very strong in Italy in 1818." (Ibid., p. 91). The present book seems to be quite infrequent; we were able to trace two copies only (Biblioteca Marucelliana, Firenze and Biblioteca Comunale Giosuè Carducci, Spoleto).

& Jerry Slocum (The Tangram Book, New York, 2003); http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/tangrams.htm; IT\ICCU\UM1E\005407.

103 - (Pastimes, puzzles, Tangram, Magic-egg) ANON Wunder-Ei Wonderei L’oeuf magique Magic-Egg Vidunder-Æegget. No place (Germany), no publisher, no date.

Oblong large 24^mo (10 x 7,5 cm.), 105 examples of Magic-egg puzzle on 48 pp. Editorial boards printed in color. Fine copy.

€ 15

The Magic-egg is one of the several known variants of the tangram. Tangram, a very popular game of Chinese origin, is a puzzle made of 7 pieces, or tans (two small triangles, one medium-sized triangle, two large triangles, a square and a rhomboid), which aim is to compose different figures using all the pieces, that must touch but not overlap. Several variants can be obtained dividing simple geometrical figures like squares, rectangles or circles. The most known variants are Pythagoras (based on a square as the classical tangram but composed from 4 triangles, 2 squares and one parallelogram), Kreuzbecher and Alle Neune (both rectangle-based, 7 and 9 pieces respectively), Circular puzzle (circle, 12 pieces), the Broken Heart (heart-shaped, 8 pieces) and Magic Egg (9 pieces). The number of figures that can be composed with Tangram (and with all other variants known) can be counted in thousands. The oldest tangram known is dated 1802; the first book about tangram was published in China in 1813. No copy of this book are known, but a replica was published in Japan in 1839. Two more books were published in 1815 from the same publisher of the 1813 edition. The first edition outside China was published in 1817 in London, followed on the Continent by a book in France, later the same year. Also of 1817 is the first Italian Tangram book, a copy of the British one. In the 19^th century tangram was extremely popular both in Europe and in the United states, and several books with a variable amount of examples and solutions were published. More variants can be obtained dividing simple geometrical figures like squares, rectangles or circles. The most known variants are Pythagoras (based on a square as the classical tangram but composed from 4 triangles, 2 squares and one parallelogram), Kreuzbecher and Alle Neune (both rectangle-based, 7 and 9 pieces respectively), Circular puzzle (circle, 12 pieces) and the Broken Heart (heart-shaped, 8 pieces). About the history of the Magic-egg variant we were not able to find any additional information. The 105 samples given in this charming booklet depict animals (mainly birds) and three human figures only. The rounded edges of six out of nine pieces are actually especially fit to compose bird shapes. This small publication represents quite a challenge, because the examples given do not include the solutions.

& Jerry Slocum (The Tangram Book, New York, 2003) passim; http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/tangrams.htm.

104 - (Giovanni Giraud) Al gioco cinese chiamato il rompicapo Appendice di figure rappresentanti l'alfabeto , le nove cifre dei numeri arabi, uomoni, bestie, case, cocchi, barche, urne, vasi ed altre suppelletili domestiche, preceduta da un discorso sul rompicapo e sulla Cina intitolato Passatempo Preliminare scritto dall'autore. Milano, Presso Pietro e Giuseppe Vallardi Mercanti di Stampe e Libri in Santa Margherita Num. 1101, 1818.

€ 2000

Tangram, a very popular game of Chinese origin, is a puzzle made of 7 pieces called tans (two small triangles, one medium-sized triangle, two large triangles, a square and a rhomboid), which aim is to compose different figures using all the pieces, that must touch but not overlap. Several variants can be obtained dividing simple geometrical figures like squares, rectangles or circles. The most known variants are Pythagoras (based on a square as the classical tangram but composed from 4 triangles, 2 squares and one parallelogram), Kreuzbecher and Alle Neune (both rectangle-based, 7 and 9 pieces respectively), Circular puzzle (circle, 12 pieces), the Broken Heart (heart-shaped, 8 pieces) and Magic Egg (9 pieces). The number of figures that can be composed with Tangram (and with all the other variants known) can be counted in thousands. The oldest tangram known is dated 1802; the first book about tangram was published in China in 1813. No copies of this book are known, but a replica was published in Japan in 1839. Two more books were published in 1815 from the same publisher of the 1813 edition. The first edition outside China was published in 1817 in London, followed on the Continent by a book in France, later the same year. Also of 1817 is the first Italian Tangram book, a copy of the British one. Slocum (p. 91), about the present book: "For this publication, Giovanni Giraud, a comedian and author of a comic opera, designed 126 new problems, took seven from Chinese books, and presented them in a new and attractive style. He included an alphabet and numerals as Tangram figures. The book was published in Florence by Ancora and, albeit in a less attractive style, by Vallardi in Milano. In 1842 it was also published as part of a collection of Giraud's works by Alessandro Monaldi Tipografo in Rome." Both editions (Florence and Milano) were published in 1818. The first 39 pages are mainly devoted to a description of China and its habits and history. The present book seems to be quite infrequent; we were able to trace 1 copy of each edition in Italy and 2 outside Italy.

& Jerry Slocum (The Tangram Book, New York, 2003); Joost Elffers (het oude Chinese vormenspel: das alte chinesische Formenspiel. Köln, DuMont Schauberg, 1973); OCLC 2 copies (7101838 and 177707272); ICCU 1 copy (IT\ICCU\TO0E\067914) of this edition and 1 of the Milano Edition (IT\ICCU\SBLE\005714).

Toys

105 - (Glass, Toys) Ignazio Paternò CASTELLO, prince of Biscari De’vasi murrini ragionamento. (Florence), 1781. (Bound with, as sometimes) The same Ragionamento a Madama N. N. sopra gli antichi ornamenti e trastulli de’bambini. Florence 1781.

€ 2200

Both parts in only edition, privately printed. Two of the most interesting books written by the noted antiquarian Ignazio Paternó Castello, prince of Biscari. He was born in Catania in 1719 and studied in Palermo. A scion of a rich family and with no financial troubles, he assembled a rich museum which was described by Domenico Sestini in two tracts of 1776 and 1787, and was instrumental in the excavation of the archaeological remnants of Catania and other nearby towns. He obtained a Royal gift in 1779, linked to the tasks to perform new excavations and to restore the previously discovered buildings, which were becoming dilapidated. A visit to his house and museum was a sine qua non step for the foreigners on the Grand Tour, and Goethe himself visited his museum in 1787, a few months after Biscari’s death (he died in 1786). The first tract is dedicated to Mario Guarnacci, the bishop of Volterra and author of a series of important essays on Etruscan art. “Paternò reviews previous writings on the troubling problems of the identity of the murrine material and expresses the opinion that it may have been amber. The two plates depict vases, one of which is labeled ‘vaso di opale’ and obviously of Renaissance workmanship … Rare” (Sinkankas). The second book, dedicated to the Sicilian noblewoman Aurora Morso, princess of Cutò, is one of the few contributions to the study of the childhood by the ancient. “The consideration inspiring this lovely tract is the identity of the human behaviour in all times and latitudes … The author considers human customs with naturalistic determinism; they will always be the same, as man is moved by the same passions, beliefs, superstitions, fears as in the antiquity … It was typical of XVIII century archaeology to consider the findings as an illustration of old literary texts or as archetypes of the objects presently in use … The comparison between pagan and modern beliefs is apparently inoffensive, but subtly destructive in reality …“ (L. Storoni Mazzolani, translated). The interesting comparisons Biscari draws between ancient and modern toys illustrate i. a. the survival of ancient myths in modern culture, and would deserve a more accurate anthropological study.

& Mira II, pages 193-194; Cicognara 1749 and 1750. Ad 1: Sinkankas 5004. Ad 2: L. Storoni Mazzolani (Il ragionamento del Principe di Biscari a Madama NN, Sellerio, Palermo, 1980) pages 9-20 and throughout.

106 - (Optical toys, Souvenir) Peep egg. England, about 1860.

€ 900

Peep egg viewers were a popular kind of hand viewers, mainly used as a souvenir, from about middle 1800’s until the early 1900’s. A peep show in a smaller scale, the peep egg works on a very simple principle: made of alabaster, a translucent stone, it contains one or more views painted or, as in the present one, engraved. Two knobs or handles on the sides of the egg can be turned to change the scenes inside, to be looked trough a magnifying lens on the top. The light comes trough the semi-transparent stone, illuminating the images contained within. Peep eggs often contained pictures of famous places and buildings and were taken home as souvenir. In later years, until the present day, they were replaced by the much less charming plastic items, mainly shaped as television or cameras, basically working on the same principle, containing tiny slides of famous places, and often attached to a key-chain to perfect their ugliness. Peep eggs were in many cases delicately painted outside, often with floral decorations. The four illustrations contained in the present one depict three of the most famous spots in London: Westminster Palace, the Crystal Palace in Sydenham and the Thames tunnel (this last with two views). It can be dated between 1860 (when Westminster Palace was completed) and 1869 (when the Thames Tunnel, originally for pedestrians, was converted in a Railway tunnel). All the subjects are too well known to need any description, but still, it is worthy to spend a few words. The original Palace of Westminster was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1834 and rebuilt in the next 30 years by the architect Sir Charles Barry and his assistant Augustus Welby Pugin; the new building incorporated the surviving Westminster Hall and St. Stephen’s Chapel. The Thames Tunnel, due to Marc Brunel, was the first one to be built under a navigable river and the first to use a tunnel shield. It took 18 years (from 1825 until 1843) to be comp