Beschreibung
Folio. [8], 112, [i.e. 114: 1-66, (1), 66-112], [1: errata] leaves. Title printed in red and black within an engraved architectural border by Matthias Greuter, woodcut coat of arms of Julius Duke of Brunswig, 21 (20 double-page) engravings (sometimes appearing as two single leaves; one is also signed by Matthias Greuter), and numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary limp vellum (a bit smutty), with later added supralibros and spine label, from the library of Walter Hawken Tregellas (1831-1894), an English writer of historical and biographical works and a professional draughtsman (with his presentation label on the pastdown), and from the Royal Engineers Library (gilt stamp on binding, and small ink stamp on title-page and on a few other places). Some very light browning and marginal dampstains, but a very nice genuine copy.RARE FIRST EDITION of this magnificent work on fortification and town-planning, the first important contribution in the German-speaking world on the subject since Dürer's Etliche Underricht zur Befestigung der Stett (1527). It was to become the standard reference work on the construction of fortresses until there was a decisive change in the manner in which wars where fought. Further editions were published in 1599, 1608, 1705 and 1756.''Speckle writes his treatise from a strongly national motivation as is clear from his preface. He wishes to prove that the Germans are not completely without imagination, and that their invention of printing and of a 'grausam Geschütz' ('fearsome artillery') shows them to be the 'the greatest in the world' in these fields. He attacks, above all, the Italian theorists for their academic disputes, declaring their rules to be outmoded and openly ridiculing their approach ('when someone has no Latin, he cannot understand it, and so has no business to talk about it'). He demonstrates the urgency of fortification, as Dürer has done, by reference to the Turkish threat. Speckle claims to be familiar with fifty or sixty types of fortification, but restricts himself to a few only. He writes in German and avoids foreign words, 'so that every German - such as I too have the honour to call myself - can understand' '' (H.-W. Kruft, A History of Architectural Theory from Vitruvius to the Present, London & New York, 1994, p. 115).In addition to Dürer, whose work Speckle considered very important, he had adopted the work of Francesco de Marchi from Bologna, Della architettura militare, thus proving that he kept abreast of the latest trends. But he was no less a pragmatist, who in his teaching methods took into account whether a fortress was located in flat countryside, in hills or in mountainous terrain. Mathematics and geometry, in conjunction with practical skills and a knowledge of mechanical laws were also the art of building fortresses. Some of his retreats and mountain castles appear on the other hand as fantastic visions of a world that had rid itself of enemies. In a copy of the 1608 edition in the Strasbourg library these castles are labeled by hand and identified as based on reality. In the second part of the treatise Speckle presents plans whose forms are dictated by terrain. He describes inter alia, in great detail, the Turkish siege of Malta (1565) and the rebuilding of La Valetta, and in so doing provides us with one of the most detailed plans we have of Francesco Laparelli's project (cf. J. Zimmer, Daniel Speckle Architectura Von Vestungen, in: ''Architectural Theory from the Renaissance to the Present'', B. Evers & C. Thoenes, eds., Köln, 2003, pp. 511-519).The twenty-eighth chapter of the first part of the treatise contains the essence of Speckle's thinking on town planning. He starts with a description of a regular plan with six bastions, of which he gives a perspective view and which reveals the priority he accords to defensive considerations. He then describes in great detail an ideal type of town plan with eight bastions, in which his political an. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 0000000002375
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