Artis Magnae Artillieriae 1650 artillery book
Similar Sale History
Recommended Items
Item Details
Description
Author: Siemienowicz, Kazimierz
Title: Artis Magnae Artillieriae Pars Prima
Place Published: Amsterdam
Publisher:J. Jansson
Date Published: 1650
Description:
[xiv], 284, [4] pp. Engraved title page, plus 22 engraved plates bound at rear (1 folding), each plate tipped along the left edge to a full blank sheet so as to extend beyond the fore edge of the text block. (Folio) 33.5x21.5 cm (13x8½") modern vellum-backed paste-paper boards, spine lettered and decorated by hand, slipcase. First Edition.
Kazimierz Siemienowicz was a Polish-Lithuanian general of artillery, gunsmith, military engineer, and pioneer of rocketry. Born in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he served the armies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, a ruler of the Netherlands. No portrait or detailed biography of him has survived and much of his life is a subject of dispute. After contributing his expertise to several battles, Siemienowicz published Artis Magnae Artilleriae in 1650. This treatise, which discussed rocketry and pyrotechnics, remained a standard work in those fields for two centuries. Among the many plates depicting rockets, cannons, bombs, fireworks and other pyrotechnics is a design for a fire breathing dragon. Rare. Bound by Rudolf Jager, Bremen, Germany, 1945.
Condition
Buyer's Premium
- 23%