PYROTECHNICS - FIREWORKS - MALTHE, FRANCOIS de. (FRANCIS MALTHUS).
Reference : 34728
(1632)
Paris, Pierre Gvillemot, 1632. 8vo. Cont. full limp vellum, remains of ties. Titlelabel in red leather on back, this with a small nick. Top of spine strenghtened with a strip of vellum. Engraved title with Neptun & Mars. (6),277,(10) pp., 28 half-page textengravings and 15 large wood-cut illustrations. A few scattered brownspots. A good copy.
Second enlaged edition of this scarce treatise of fireworks for war and recreation. The work is divided in five sections: the first 56 pp. to war, pp. 57-146 to 'recreation' and pp. 147-277 to sundials, fortification, geometry and arithmetics. Of the English edition of 1629, Cockle says ""This work, though in advance of anything so far written on the subject in English, does not attain to the standard of Thibourel and Appier. Yet it is with foreign treatises it must be weighed, for Malthus received his training in pyrotechnics abroad...It was Malthus who about the year 1634 introduced the mortar into the French service."" - Klaus Jordan: 2328 (ed. 1629) - Chris Philip: M 040.3 - Cockle Nos 118 a. 939.