Le machine. Volume nuovo et di molto artificio da fare effetti maravigliosi tanto spiritali quanto di animale. Operatione arichito di bellissime figure con le dichiarationi a ciascuna di esse in lingua volgare et latina [...].

3 parts in 1 vol., 8vo: [3]-40, 14, 23 ff. (browning, some foxing, occ. water stains in blank margins, tear of leaf F repaired).

Contemp. limp vellum, flat spine (spine with sm. def., sm. stains, pastedowns and flyleaves strengthened).

First and only edition of this famous and rare treatise on machinery by the Roman engineer and architect Branca (1571-1645). Ill. with 1 architectural engr. title with the figures of Vitruvius and Archimedes, and 77 full-page woodcuts figuring numerous machines powered by water, steam, human and animal energy, incl. a machine to pound pestles in mortars which is the first representation of an action-powered steam turbine, a device first described by Leonardo da Vinci, which remained unpublished until 1909 (figura XXV, p. 25 of part I). With the "Imprimatur" on the verso of the title.
Ref. Wheeler gift 96 . - Dibner 175. - Norman 333. - Opac SBN. - Not in Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca mechanica.