Busca's FORTEZZE, v rare Italian work on SIEGING, 1598

** RARE COPY OF 16TH CENTURY ITALIAN WORK ON THE ASSAULT OF FORTRESSES - INCLUDES 8 DOUBLE-PAGE WOODCUT PLATES, TWO ALMOST COMPLETE TEXT COPIES OF THE MAIN BOOK, AND ONE SMALLER ILLUSTRATED WORK ! **

* * See below for more pictures * *

 DETAILS: (Turin): Gio. Dominico Tarino, 1598. New (second?) edition. Contemporary full limp vellum binding. [8], 224; 260; 87, [1]pp. Illustrated with 8 double-page woodcut plates in main text; 14 woodcut diagrams and 2 full-page woodcuts in smaller work. Text in Italian. Small folio 23cm x 18cm (larger sized book).

CONDITION: Very Good to Good (see table below for details). Lacks 1 or more likely 2 double-page plates (please see below for more detailed pagination and plate collation); also lacks pp227-230 and pp253-256. Dirt, sunning and some edgewear to covers and spine, crease down length of front cover. Ink inscription to front endpaper. Small holes to top corners of first 4 leaves, just touches a couple of page numbers, but no text. Faint staining to fore edge of first few pages, to bottom edge of next few and last pages,and to bottom corner of centre pages (text still clear and readable). Sunning to pages, heavier to sections of pages, again text still clear. Light foxing to margins of many pages, light spots in text to some. Tape repair to reverse of one plate. Two small closed tears to inner margin of foot of two plates. Heavier sunning to a couple of plates, and scattered foxing to others, but generally double-page plates still in very good condition. *Photo(s) given of actual book.

CONTENTS: This is an extremely rare copy of this Italian work on assault and defence of fortresses by Gabriello Busca. Busca was employed as military architect and engineer at the Savoy Court from 1570 to 1594. The volume is divided into two sections. The main work (260pp), contains 8 double-page woodcut plates. The second work, "Instruttione de' Bombardieri," has its own half title and contains 14 woodcut diagrams in the text and 2 full-page diagrams.

The main text is divided into two sections. Chapters in the first section include: Se puo darsi la fortezza inespugnabile per forza d'arme; Della inventione dell'Artiglieria, & quando primieramente fosse stata usata nella guerra; De gli apparati per combattere le fortezze per via di batteria; Come si passino i fiumi, & de' ponti che sopra quelli si fanno; Quanto debba essere discosto la batteria dal muro, & quanto i pezzi per levare le difeste; Delle Trincee; Divarie sorti fortezze quanto alla materia; Fatta la batteria, come si dia l'assalto; Delle fortezze edificate sopra monti; Di altre sorti di fortezze edificate in vari siti; Della forma della mina come si chiuda, & conduca ad effetto.

Chapters in the second section include: Del Capitano della fortezza; Del conueniente numero de' soldati per custodire la fortezza. De gli Artilgieri, & altri artefici. De' guastatori. & della monitioni del viuere; Appresentato l'essercito nimico alla fortezza, che far debba il Capitano che la difende; Delle guardie delle batterie; Le ritirate delle batterie come fare si debbono; De gli ultimi ripari delle batterie; De gli auisi che si sogliono dare a gli amici con l'artiglieria; Quando saranno consumate le monitioni del viuere, quello che sia lecito fare.

The second works has 55 short chapters, including: Nel primo Cap trattasi dell' eletione del Bombardiero; Finimento dell' artiglieria; Discorso sopra la compositione de fuochi; Come si possa riconoscere la iustezza, o iniustezza delle regole contenenti i diametri delle palle; Misura de tiri ordinarii dell' artiglieria; Istrumento, che si richiede al Bombardiero per tirare bene di volata, dell' elevatione, & abbassamento, accrescimento, & accorciamento de tiri; Come fare sidebbiano i gabbioni; Come si fanno le batterie; Quanti tiri si possono fare al di in batteria; Avertenze generali del Bombardiero, che deve andare in batteria.

The 8 double-page woodcut plates in the main work are still in impressive condition. There is some sunning, and scattered foxing, but otherwise they are clear and nicely detailed, as our photos show. They include two plates showing the use of bridges/pontoons; two of an army laying siege to a fortress; three showing geometrical calculations, presumably on the positioning of siege cannons; and one which appears to show positions for archers. The plates in the second work are mostly geometric diagrams, and all are still in nice condition.

This copy is something of a curiosity, as it includes the majority of the text of two copies of the main work! Initially come the first 224 (of 260) pages of the main text, minus two plates. There is then a second copy of the main text, minus the plates. As the plates are numbered like pages, this means that there are four-page gaps in the pagination (and one text page is missing from this second copy, as it is on the reverse of a plate). Furthermore in the second copy of the text, there are two sections of pages missing, and the catchwords on the bottom of the first page in each case does not match the first word of the next page, which suggests that text pages, rather than plates, are missing. One plate is definitely missing (the catchword matches the following text page after the gap). The first edition had 10 double-page plates, while the single copy of this edition we can find has only 9 double-page plates (please see European Library site), so we are unsure as to whether one or two plates are missing (possibly the European Library copy is missing a plate?). The second section of the work appears complete and unaffected (pagination matches that of the European Library copy). 

Aside from the single library copy, we cannot find comparable copies anywhere. Despite being incomplete, the age, subject matter, and plates make this a very desirable work for the military collector.