Meyer, L'arte di rendere i fiumi navigabili, Rome, 1696, contemporary vellum

Cornelis Meyer

L'arte di rendere i fiumi navigabili in varii modi, con altre nuove inventioni, e varii altri segreti, divisa in tre parti (Nuovi ritrovamenti). Rome: Giovanni Giacomo Komarek, 1696

2 works in one volume (the first in 3 parts), folio (396 x 260mm.), titles with large engravings of a dragon, part 1: 17 plates containing engravings numbered 1-65 (mostly 4 to a page but some larger), including Discorso sopra la propositione dell'allungamento, e meglioramento del porto di Pesaro (Rome: Bernabo, 1698), a bifolium with double-page engraving numbered 58 by hand, Descrittione di un facilissimo modo... per impedire l'inondazione sopra le provincie di Bologna (Rome: Bernabo, 1698), a bifolium with double-page engraving numbered 66 by hand; part 2: 7 leaves of engravings numbered 1-27; part 3: 6 leaves of plates numbered A-L (including one on the verso of the title-page) and a portrait of the author beneath plate L; 6 letterpress leaves of index in Latin, French and Dutch, with an additional letterpress slip pasted to the French and Dutch indexes; Nuovi ritrovamenti: 28 leaves, engraved illustrations and maps (some double-page), indexes in Latin, French and Dutch; contemporary vellum, occasional foxing or staining

The Dutch hydraulic engineer Meyer (1629-1701) was appointed by Pope Clement X to investigate making the Tiber navigable all the way to Perugia. He also looked into reclaiming some land in the Pontine Marshes as well as other projects in the Papal States.

Copies of the Nuovi ritrovamenti are recorded with either 32 or 28 leaves, as here.