L'Arte Di Rendere I Fiumi Navigabili,

£10,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

An important early work on the improvements of Rome's waterways by Cornelis Jansz Meijer (1629-1701), a Dutch hydraulic engineer. There are also depictions of other forms of transport, the homes and monuments of Rome, and observations of the solar eclipse. In 1675 Meijer arrived in Rome and caused outrage by proposing a canal from the Tiber to the lagoon of Maccarese. He had the Pontine marshes mapped and produced works such as this copy to petition for a license to turn it into a usable waterway. A patent was finally granted in 1699 but he died two years later and his son, attempting to finish the work, got chased out by angry locals in 1707. According to folk tales a dragon lived in the swamps of Pontine and Meijer claimed to find its skeleton, which adorn the title pages of this work. Almost all plates are signed as designed by C. Meyer. Some are also signed as engraved by him, but most carry the names of other engravers - I.B. Falda, G. van Vittel, 'BD', G. Wouters, Ber. de Balliu, Ia. Blondeau, I.B. Honoratus. The portrait of Mejjer is unsigned, as are the three title-page vignettes. The second work is a further description of the plates of the first, with reproductions of each plate in question, and is present with the Index for both parts. Presumably the original owner felt acquiring the second part was unnecessary, as they have written in manuscript in the Index which plates part two describes, which are of course present in the first work. Only 3 copies in UK institu

• Binding: Hardcover

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