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133 - GALILEO. On Mechanical Science, and the Benefits Derived fro…
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
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Description
GALILEO. On Mechanical Science, and the Benefits Derived from its Instruments: with a fragment on the force of impact. An important work for the history of science, fundamental in particular to modern mechanics and experimental physics. In it, Galileo formalises the principles of simple machines and lays the foundations of experimental science. Very rare. Bologna, 1655. Quarto volume (230 x 172 mm), modern cardboard binding, plain, unmarked spine. In Italian, 43 pages. Yellowed paper, slight water stain in the top margin of the first four leaves, light foxing and small pinholes on the title page and pages 35–37. Second edition, partly in the original, very well printed in Bologna, illustrated with numerous wood-engraved figures. This treatise was written by Galileo between 1592 and 1599 during his years of teaching in Padua and was first published posthumously in 1649 in Ravenna by Luca Danesi. This expanded edition contains, for the first time, the fragment on the force of the ‘percossa’ (impact), which also appears in the subsequent printings of 1656, 1718, 1744, and 1808–1811. The editor has included, as part of the continuous pagination, ‘La Bilancetta’ (or ‘The Little Balance’), a short treatise published by Galileo in 1586. This text, his first printed work, describes a measuring instrument of his own invention, designed when he was just 22 years old. The 1655 edition is extremely rare: only one copy has been identified, held in Berlin at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG). A copy with wide margins, in very good condition.
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About the sale Fine antique and collectible books, manuscripts and modern illustrated works
Auction location
Auction time 06/29/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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