Caus | Von Gewaltsamen bewegungen, Frankfurt, 1615, contemporary vellum

Caus, Salomon de

Von Gewaltsamen bewegungen: Beschreibung etlicher, so wol nützlichen alss lustigen Machiner beneben Unterschiedlichen abriessen etlicher Höllen od. Grotten und lust Brunnen (das Ander Buch; das Dritte Buch). Frankfurt: Abraham Pacard (part 3: John Norton), 1515 [i.e. 1615]

3 parts in one volume, folio (392 x 258mm.), 2 engraved title-pages and one letterpress title-page, woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut and engraved illustrations (some full-page), folding woodcut plate in part 3, contemporary vellum, one leaf torn and repaired with slight loss, occasional light staining or browning

A German translation of de Caus's Les raisons des forces mouvantes, also printed in Frankfurt in 1615. Caus worked for Prince Henry in London and then, after his death, for his sister Elizabeth and her husband, the Count Palatine Frederick, in Heidelberg, where he redesigned the gardens. This work contains details of machines and fountains designed by de Caus, inspired by the automata of Hero of Alexandria, and including a mechanical bird and an organ; there is also the engraved music of a madrigal by Alessandro Striggio called Che fera fed' al cielo, originally in five voices and arranged here in organ tablature by Peter Philips (c. 1560-1628), designed for the cylinder of Caus's mechanical organ.

The early manuscript note on the upper cover describes some of the contents, addressed to "Monsieur": "Monsieur, Wass[er] Voglgesang, Orgeln, Brünnen-grotto, durch Salomon de Caus".

LITERATURE:

VD17 3:626282F