- 287
Tartaglia, Nicholas
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
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Description
- Three Bookes of Colloquies Concerning the Arte of Shooting in Great and Small Peeces of Artillerie, Variable randges, measure and waight of leaden, yron, and marble stone pellets, mineral saltpeeter, gunpowder of divers sortes, and the cause why some sortes of gunpowder are corned and some sorts … are not corned … now translated into English by Cyprian Lucar. London: John Harrison, 1588
- paper, ink, leather
Two parts in one volume, folio (11 3/8 x 7 1/2 in.; 288 x 190 mm). Three title-pages (one a cancel and two with woodcut vignettes), 5 full-page woodcut coats-of-arms, approximately 65 woodcut vignettes in text, errata leaf bound at end; first title and dedication leaf with some browning and with edges chipped. Contemporary sheep; rebacked and neatly repaired, endpapers renewed.
Provenance
William Hammond (signature on title and errata leaf, dated 1592) — F. M. Keith (signature on title) — Society for Promoting Arts and Commerce (bookplate and inked stamp on first title and dedication leaf)
Literature
STC 23689; Cockle, A Bibliography of English Military Books 38
Condition
Condition as described in catalogue entry.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
First English edition of Tartaglia's Nova Scientia (PMM 66), one of the great scientific classics of the Renaissance. This English translation exercised considerable influence both upon English military science and the development of an indigenous English instrument trade, still in its formative years. The second treatise, by Cyprian Lucar, forms an appendix to the first and, in addition to gunnery, covers geometrical surveying. Both Tartaglia's and Lucar's treatises cover all the traditional areas with which a Renaissance artillerist had to be fully informed: the composition of gunpowder, the calculation of the charge to be employed, the mathematical measurement by means of a quadrant of the distance to be shot, the choice of weapons, etc.
Rare.