Science: Books and Manuscripts

Science: Books and Manuscripts

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 20. Ens | Thaumaturgus mathematicus, Cologne, 1651, contemporary vellum.

Ens | Thaumaturgus mathematicus, Cologne, 1651, contemporary vellum

Lot Closed

May 25, 01:19 PM GMT

Estimate

700 - 1,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Ens, Gaspar


Thaumaturgus mathematicus, id est, admirabilium effectorum e mathematicarum disciplinarum fontibus profluentium sylloge... Nunc denuo correctio & auctior. Cologne: Konstantin Münich, 1651, woodcut of Archimedes and the earth on title-page, woodcut initials and illustrations, retaining leaf T8 which should have been cancelled (the text also appears on leaf A5 at the start of the index, the index is bound at the end in some copies)


Thaumaturgi physici prodromus, id est problematum physicorum liber singularis. Cologne: Konstantin Münich, 16492 works in one volume, 8vo (143 x 84mm.), contemporary vellum, browned throughout


The first work is the second Latin edition (first published in 1636) of an extraordinary mixture of mathematics, engineering conundrums, alchemy and the bizarre; it even includes an illustration of a shot on a billiard table (p. 146). Ens translated and adapted Leurechon's Recréation mathematique (1624) for this work.


The second work is much rarer, and deals with similar conundrums and explanations of natural phenomena.


LITERATURE:

VD17 23:273399R & 23:276277V


PROVENANCE:

Michele Gigli, inscription on inside front cover; Jesuits of Rome, Domus probationis, library stamp and printed label on upper cover