Architectura Curiosa Nova.

1664. BÖCKLER, Georg Andreas. Architectura Curiosa Nova. Part I. Fundamenta hydragogica, indolem[que] aquae, aëris interventu in altum levandae. Part II. Varios aquarum ac salientium fontium lusus per varia spectatu jucunda epistomiorum seu Siphonum genera. Part III. Magnum amoenissimorum fontium, machinarum[que] aquaeductoriarum sumtu magno exstructarum, ac per Italiam, Galliam, Brittaniam, Germaniam etc., visendarum, numerum. Part IV. Specus artificiales sumtuosissimas, cum pleris[que] Principium Europeorum Palatiis, hortis, aulis; nec non praecipuis monasteriis at[que] arcibus. Part V. Cum auctario figurarum elegantissimarum, ad hortorum topiaria vario ductu dividenda, nec non conclavium laquearibus ac pavimentis segmentandis, item[que]Labyrinthis construendis, adhibenandarum. Translated from the German into Latin by Johanne Christophoro Sturmio. Four parts in one volume. Part I: title, [viii], 30 pp., illustrated with 4 full-page numbered engravings. Part II: title, 13, [1] pp., illustrated with 71 full-page numbered engravings (of which 9 plates contain 4 images per page). Part III: title, 22 pp., illustrated with 120 full-page numbered engravings, including one folding (of which 4 plates contain 2 images per page). Part IV: title, 26 pp., illustrated with 36 full-page numbered engravings. Folio, 326 x 219 mm., bound in later three-quarter German vellum, black marbled paper over boards, red leather title label on spine. Nuremberg: Paul Fürst, [1664]. First Latin edition, published simultaneously or soon after the first German edition. Dedicated to the Archbishop of Salzburg, dated 16 March 1664. This copy with the German engraved title, bearing the Latin cancel slips pasted over the German text. Few books have captured the sense of the Baroque more than this extensive survey of European fountains, which is the most comprehensive of its time. All the plates are unsigned except for the opening engraved title, signed Abraham Aubry and plate 100 in Part III by Balthasar Schwan. The remaining engravings are by anonymous printmakers. Georg Andreas Böckler (ca. 1617-1687), an Alsatian architect and engineer, was commissioned by the publisher to add descriptive text to the collection of engravings which he had assembled. Parts I-II are on the theory of hydraulics, fountain building, and the different types of fountains. Part III surveys grand pleasure fountains from Italian, French, and German designs. Part IV covers palaces, gardens, grottoes, topiary mazes, labyrinths and garden pavilions. Some of the plates are clearly after fountains designed by Bernini and Giambologna. Binding scuffed, some browning to the text, but the plates remain in clean, bright, strong impressions. A handsome copy. Millard, Northern European 7. Berlin Katalog 3579. Hunt I, 295. Cicognara 886.