BESSON (Jacques). THEATRE DES INSTRUMENS MATHEMATIQUES ET ME - Lot 113

BESSON (Jacques). THEATRE DES INSTRUMENS MATHEMATIQUES ET MECHANIQUES by J. Besson, dauphinois, docte mathématicien. Lyon, Barthélémy Vincent, 1578. In-folio of 20-60 unencrypted leaves, brown calf, gilt fillets on covers, ornate ribbed spine (period binding). The earliest work on the subject, first published in Orléans in 1569. This is the first French edition, illustrated with a fine title frame and 60 full-page copper-engraved plates attributed to Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. The latter show an extraordinary variety of inventions, ranging from a musical instrument to a pump for extinguishing fire from a distance, as well as machines for lifting burdens, emptying or lifting submerged ships, and so on. The copy has been replaced in its binding, which has undergone several well-executed restorations, a few light marginal rings, several brown spots, the copy remains very decent and has retained wide margins. (Brunet I, 829-30) (USTC, 30199).