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an old book with a brown cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old book with a drawing of a man sitting in front of a tablean old book with a bunch of drawings of different objectsan old book with a drawing of a building on itan old book with a drawing of a man standing on top of a hill
ALDE

63 - CAUS (Salomon de). *The Principles of Moving Forces, with Va…
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Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
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Description
CAUS (Salomon de). *The Principles of Moving Forces, with Various Machines, Both Useful and Amusing, to Which Are Appended Several Designs of Grotesques and Fountains*. Frankfurt, John Norton, 1615. 3 parts in one folio volume, fawn calfskin, decorated spine, roulette on the edges, red edges (contemporary binding). First edition of this rare and sought-after book on machinery. The work, dedicated to Louis XIII, deals with the physics of motion and its application in engineering, the art of gardening, hydraulics, acoustics and music. The first volume presents numerous machines, the second is devoted to grottoes and fountains, and the third to the construction of organs. The illustrations comprise 2 frontispiece titles, 54 full-page plates and a few within the text, 2 pp. of musical notation, all engraved on copper, as well as 25 woodcuts within the text and, at the end of the volume, a double-page plate on the measurement of organ pipes. Born into a Protestant family in Dieppe, the architect and engineer Salomon de Caus (1576–1626) served as engineer to Archduke Albert of Austria, and later at the court of Henry of Wales. He is said to have been involved in the design of the gardens at Richmond, Greenwich and Somerset House, and to have designed those at Heidelberg Castle for the Elector Palatine Frederick V. Returning to France in 1620, Caus placed himself under the patronage of Richelieu and was appointed architect and engineer to the king. From the library of Charles Mallet, with a wet stamp at the top of the title page, and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1880, no. 1035), the famous architect and theorist, known for his restorations of medieval buildings, with an ex-libris bearing the motto ‘Δοκιμαζειν κατεχειν’. Missing caps, worn corners, a few faint water stains; in the first volume, a small tear with no loss on fol. 8; the plates on ff. 10 and 38 are cut slightly short at the margin; in the second volume, ink stains at the bottom of ff. 17–18. Brunet, I, 1691 – Graesse, II, 90 – Berlin Catalogue, no. 793.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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