ZONCA, Vittorio

by Vittorio Zonca

£11,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Rare first edition of Vittorio Zonca's wonderful, inventive and most influential work, one of the classic books on machinery of the late Italian Renaissance, beautifully illustrated with forty two engraved plates depicting machines for use in paper making, printing, flour mills, silk spinning, and a speculative machine using 'perpetual motion', amongst many others. The dedication is by the printer Bertelli to Rainuccio Gambara. Little is known about Zonca (1568-1602) beyond this his major publication which describes him as 'Architect of the Commune of Padua'; it is evident from this work that he was practically involved with a wide range of disciplines, from hydraulics, to textiles, to printing. Zonca clearly takes his place along with Ramelli, Vrani, and Branca as one of the pre-eminent engineers of late C16 Italy, all of whom share a debt to Leonardo. The work is simply conceived with a detailed plate of each machine, a table of its parts, and a lengthy practical description detailing its function. Nearly all the machines from the Novo Teatro focus on water power, though some use humans or animals. Of particular interest are those relating to the manufacture of silk and other fabrics, to the printing press and the manufacture of paper and the operation of canals. He describes the application of the rolling mill to precious and other metals and Zonca appears to be the first engineer to remark that when running against steel any sort of metal other than brass is consumed. He

• Binding: Hardcover

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