De Rerum Varietate libri XVII. Post alias omnes editiones, nunc recogniti, castigati, infinitisque mendis repurgati, Lyon: Barth�lemy Honorat, 1580, [16], 883, [48]pp., woodcut printer's device on title, folding plate and folding table, woodcut illustrations to text including full-page palmistry illustration, final blank of preliminary leaves present, several careful old ink (?editorial) deletions, each mostly of one or two sentences but including diagonal strikethrough for whole of pages 85 & 87, some spotting, recent blind-stamped antique-style tan calf with string ties, 8vo (165 x 105mm) First published in 1557 this is Cardano's second great encyclopaedia of natural science, the first being De Subtilitate (1550), and like it a dazzling display of polymathic learning. 'The two works, written in elliptical and often obscure Latin, contain a little of everything: from cosmology to the construction of machines; from the usefulness of natural sciences to the evil influence of demons; from the laws of mechanics to cryptology', (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). The cryptology element referred to is a description of what is now known as Cardano's Grille, which consisted of a sheet of stiff material with excisions for masking written text and, though somewhat crude, was used by some countries for diplomatic correspondence in the 16th and 17th centuries. (1)
De Rerum Varietate libri XVII. Post alias omnes editiones, nunc recogniti, castigati, infinitisque mendis repurgati, Lyon: Barth�lemy Honorat, 1580, [16], 883, [48]pp., woodcut printer's device on title, folding plate and folding table, woodcut illustrations to text including full-page palmistry illustration, final blank of preliminary leaves present, several careful old ink (?editorial) deletions, each mostly of one or two sentences but including diagonal strikethrough for whole of pages 85 & 87, some spotting, recent blind-stamped antique-style tan calf with string ties, 8vo (165 x 105mm) First published in 1557 this is Cardano's second great encyclopaedia of natural science, the first being De Subtilitate (1550), and like it a dazzling display of polymathic learning. 'The two works, written in elliptical and often obscure Latin, contain a little of everything: from cosmology to the construction of machines; from the usefulness of natural sciences to the evil influence of demons; from the laws of mechanics to cryptology', (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). The cryptology element referred to is a description of what is now known as Cardano's Grille, which consisted of a sheet of stiff material with excisions for masking written text and, though somewhat crude, was used by some countries for diplomatic correspondence in the 16th and 17th centuries. (1)
.jpg?height=400 "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg?w=400 "Quelle: Christie's")
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