[HISTORY OF SCIENCE]
SCHOTT, GASPAR. Technica curiosa, sive mirabilia artis. Libris XII... Nuremberg: Johannis Andreae Endteri, & Wolfgangi Junioris Haeredum, 1664. First edition. Period blind-stamped calf, all edges red. 7 7/8 x 6 inches (19.5 x 15 cm); engraved title, [40, including engraved portrait and dedication], 1044, [32] pp. The first part has 38 separate plates (two, plates 36 and 37, bound out of order), two composite, some folding, numbered I-XXXIX; the second has 20 plates, one composite, some folding, numbered I-XXI, i.e. engraved title, portrait, plate of arms and 58 plates. We note copies indicated as having more; the plate count appears variable, with some copies as this, and others with one or two additional plates. Spine defective with losses, boards rubbed, corners exposed. Internally, generally a clean copy, some toning, occasional faint cockling.
The work is divided into two major sections. The first part has an important section on the work of Guericke and Boyle, and has the fine plate of Guericke's famous Magdeburg demonstration, published eight years before his Experimenta Nova, and this is the first published description of Guericke's work. Boyle's work on air pumps is also discussed, as well as a curious diving bell, etc. The section Mirabilia chronometrica in the second part provides the first description of a universal joint and a classification of gear teeth, together with a large section on Kabbalah, Mirabilium Cabalisticorum. Honeyman 2826; Duveen 537; Norman 1911; Waller 20243.