Contignationes, ac pontes...(segue altro foglio con titolo italian Castelli e ponti di Maestro Nicola Zabaglia, con alcune ingegnose pratiche, e con la descrizione del trasporto dell' Obelisco Vaticano,

in- folio (46x36,5 mm), 4 ff. nn., 21 fogli di testo su doppio foglio impresso al solo recto, ritratto a 54 tavole inc. in rame. Testo italiano e latino, legatura coeva mezza pergamena, titolo entro fregio decorativo in oro al dorso.

Magnifica ed importante opera di tecnica della costruzione e di architettura, riferita particolarmente all' edificazione dei grandi palazzi romani e del Vaticano. In essa mastro Nicola Zabaglia (1674-1760), che iniziò quale semplice ed illetterato muratore, espone le realizzazioni pratiche da lui ingegnosamente attuate. Stupendo il ritratto dis. da Ghezzi ed incise da G. Rossi; le belle e interessanti tavole raffig. varietà di ponteggi, scale, macchine, pulegge, mezzi di trasporto di materiali con cavalli ed operai, sono incise da Rostagni, Vasi, Specchi, Duflos ed altri. Prima edizione. Buon esemplare, malgrado qualche arrossatura.

folio (46x36,5 mm), 4 leaves (titles in two languages) and explanatory text for plates (on 21 folding letterpress sheets), engraved frontispiece of the author demonstrating pulleys, 54 engraved plates, of which 4 double-page and/or folding and mounted on stubs. Contemporary half vellum, slightly worn, some foxing. A fundamental treatise about the building history of St. Peter and for a full understanding of early building technique. The portrait, drawn by Ghezzi and engraved by G. Rossi, of the master builder Nicola Zabaglia (1674-1760) is quite amazing: the author started out as a simple and illiterate mason and clearly explains here the practical he ingeniously implemented, with the help of Giovanni Bottari and Lelio Cosatto. The plates also illustrate the technique used by Domenico Fontana in the transportation and re-erecting of the Vatican obelisk, one of the greatest engineering feats of the Renaissance and a project requiring some 900 men, 150 horses and 47 cranes.

An important treatise demonstrating the technicalities of contemporary building practice particularly referring to the building of the great buildings of Rome and of the Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The large plates were engraved by Rostagni, Vasi, Specchi, Duflos, and others. They depict varieties of scaffolding, ladders, machines, pulleys, and means of transporting materials with horses and workers. Zabaglia worked on the construction of the Basilica, and thanks to his talent for inventing machines to aid in the task, he achieved the status of engineer for the project. He instructed the "Sampietrini", a group of masons and maintenance men who carry out all the repairs, decorations, and additions to the basilica. The book shows the kinds of tasks carried out by the "Sampietrini" as well as Zabaglia's many scaffolding and mechanical inventions, it includes illustrations of the tools and materials used, method of transporting stone and other similar large objects, different kinds of winches and pulley system as well as a wide variety of scaffoldings devices.

Cicognara 968. Riccardi 642. Choix d' Olschki,18271.