Theatrum Machinarum Novum

In-folio of (1) blank leaf, 1 engraved frontispiece, (10) pp. and 154 superb full-page numbered plates. Granitized brown calf, cold tooled roll framing the covers, spine with raised bands, formerly restored and decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, sprinkled edges, first quire foxed, leaves reinforced at the margin. Binding of the period.

330 x 224 mm.

Boeckler, Georg Andreas. Theatrum machinarum novum, exhibiting aquatics, winged, draft-animal, hand- and foot-operated, and weight-driven variable machines…
Cologne, Paul Principis, 1662.

First Latin edition of this spectacular treatise on mechanical inventions by Boeckler.

First Latin edition of this finely illustrated work by the German architect and engineer Boeckler, following the Nuremberg printing of the year before. The plates illustrate the construction of gigantic mill wheels and various systems of hydraulic machinery to be operated not only by water or wind, but by weights, horse power or human energy.

This work includes "many beautiful engravings of gunpowder mills, saw mills, water raising devices, fire engines, roasting spits and so on. Boeckler [fl. 1648-1685] was a German architect and engineer interested in masses of gearing, complex workings, and devices that even by modern standards invite awe and admiration" (Hoover 142, describing the 1686 edition).

"Of its 154 full page Plates the last and most recent [shows] a fire engine made by Johann Hautsch of Nurnberg in 1658, by which twenty-four men could raise water to eighty or a hundred feet" (Thorndike VII, p. 619).

The author suggests ways to construct aqueducts, fountains, pumps, water jets, siphons for extinguishing fires, lifting machines, water mills and windmills, and others that are operated by hand or by foot, ...

There are machines designed for attacking and defending strongholds, for use in building construction, etc.

With a distinct artistic sense, the architect illustrates in 154 superb copperplate engravings the most varied mechanical inventions. The last plate of the work, which is often missing, is of the highest interest since it depicts a fire pump operated by seven men in action, a very recent German invention created in 1658 by the German engineer Hans Hautsch.

"George-André Boeckler, a German mechanic, was architect of the city of Nuremberg; he published in German a collection of mills and other mechanical inventions (folio, 154 plates). This collection reproduces, with considerable additions, all the inventions of mills that Strada de Rosberg had published in 1618 and 1629. Although many of these machines are only projects, and among them some are impracticable, or would only give unfavorable results if subjected to calculations of dynamics, there are several which reveal genuine genius."

Boeckler's work is thus analyzed in the Bibliothèque germanique: "George André Boeckler, German architect and engineer, published in this language in 1661 at Nuremberg, in folio, a Theatrum Machinarum novum which was later translated into Latin in 1686 by a certain Schmitz & printed in Cologne. In this Theater one sees almost only the machines published in 1618 by Octavien de Strada… These books suggest ways to construct aqueducts, fountains, pumps, water jets, siphons for extinguishing fires, water mills & windmills, others that are operated by hand or by foot, some are operated by counterweights, others using horses. These mills are not all for the same use, some are for grinding grain, others for making paper, for saltpeter, for grinding colors, for polishing marble, for sawing wood or stone, for fullers, for drapers, for printing presses for images, etc. Finally, there are machines for lifting heavy loads, others used in attack & defense of places, in building construction, etc. Although all these so useful machines are represented in these books either scenographically or in elevation, it can nevertheless be said that they are not of great use for a machinist, for some of these machines are incorrect, or today have been taken to a higher point of perfection…"

 Copy preserved in its period binding.

Provenance: “The Earls of Macclesfield’s South Library at Shiburn Castle”, with bookplate.