Description

12mo. 106 pp. With woodcut title vignette and 3 (instead of 4) folding engraved plates with 9 (instead of 11) numbered illustrations. Contemporary full vellum with manuscript title and shelfmark label to spine, as well as a title label pasted to the foot of the lower flyleaf, sticking out to cover the lower edge of the book block. Rare second edition of this pocket-sized artillery manual by the Modenese astronomer and mathematician Montanari (1633-87), first published in 1680, which aims to provide to the Venetian military nutshell instructions on the use of mortars. Includes 20 pages of tables for determining the range of a shot by the inclination of the mortar. The plates illustrate Montanari's calculations of ballistic trajectories. - Lacking the first plate with illustrations I through III. Binding slightly brownstained, a few small tears to plates and title-page. Occasional waterstaining in upper right-hand corner. From the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research. No copy in auction records. - OCLC 433544921. Cf. Tomash & Williams M119 (1690 ed.). Not in Cockle or Jähns.