Földvári Books

First Exhibition Catalogue of Engineering Models; [With:] A Rarely Seen Illustrated Treatise on Squaring the Circle

[Picot, Jean-Baptiste]; [Jouvin, Jacques]

Explication des modèles des machines et forces mouvantes. Que l’on expose à Paris, dans la ruë de la Harpe, vis-à-vis Saint Cosme. [Bound with: Jouvin, Jacques: Solution et esclaircissement de quelques propositions de mathématiques.]

A Paris: [Imprimé chez C. Guillery, Avec Permission], M. DC. LXXXIII [1683]. First editions. In contemporary leather, spine with raised bands, gilt compartment and title vignette. Gilt turn-inns, tinted edges, marbled endpapers. 4to. [8] 48 pp., 12 engraved plates. Possessor’s inscription “Antoine Orsetti” on front free enpaper. Binding lightly rubbed. Some browning and light foxing; a crisp, well-margined copy. A few corrections and annotations in a contemporary hand in Jouvin’s work. In fine condition.

A groundbreaking 1683 catalogue documenting the first public exhibition of engineering models—an early triumph of applied science and mechanistic display under Louis XIV.

Rare and historically significant catalogue documenting one of the earliest known public exhibition of mechanical models in Europe. Held in Paris in 1683 under the patronage of Jean-Jules-Armand Colbert, Marquis de Blainville, the exhibition promoted the physical demonstration of engineering principles through functional scale models. Intended to encourage inventors to present their innovations experimentally rather than rely on drawings or text alone, the event exemplified the Colbertian ideal of useful knowledge in service of the state. The Explication is the earliest known printed catalogue of an engineering exhibition and a landmark in the history of technical display and mechanistic science.

The exhibition featured twenty-one models, twelve of which were described and illustrated in this catalogue. These included devices for water-lifting, timber cutting, cannon boring, and various forms of civil and military machinery. Some were adaptations of well-known designs by 16th- and 17th-century engineers such as Besson, Ramelli, Böckler, and Salomon de Caus; others were recent inventions by contemporary artisans. The models were built in diverse workshops, often to working scale, and were exhibited to the public in a specially arranged venue on the Rue de la Harpe in Paris, opposite the church of Saint Cosme. Copies of the catalogue were distributed not only in France but also in Britain and Germany.

Although the catalogue is formally anonymous, its authorship was convincingly attributed to Jean-Baptiste Picot by scholar Gérard Dumas in his detailed study. Picot was a quartermaster under Louis XIV and closely associated with Colbert de Blainville, who oversaw the event as Superintendent of the King’s Buildings. Picot’s authorship is further supported by internal references to the initials “M.L.C.D.O.,” which Dumas interprets as “Monsieur le Chevalier D’Ormes,” a title known to be used by Picot. The catalogue shares both stylistic and technical similarities with Picot’s earlier treatise on hydraulic machinery, L’expérience justifiée d’une machine pour élever l’eau… (Paris, 1681), reinforcing the attribution.

By the late seventeenth century, the use of working models as tools for experimentation, communication, and persuasion had become increasingly widespread. This exhibition stands as the earliest documented instances in which such models were presented to the public in a coordinated display—marking a transitional moment in the history of applied science, where invention began to intersect visibly with public spectacle, state ambition, and printed dissemination.

An important artefact of early modern engineering culture and scientific communication.

Rare. RBH lists the sale of only three other copies besides the present one. According to WorldCat, institutional holdings remain scarce. Only three copies are located outside Europe, all in the United States: at Stanford University, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Libraries.

Reference:

Dumas, G. (1967). Une des premières expositions publiques de modèles de machines et son catalogue (Paris, 1683). Revue d’histoire des sciences, 20(2), 133–152.

[Bound before:]

[Jouvin, Jacques]

Solution et esclaircissement de quelques propositions de mathématiques, entr’autres de la duplication du cube, & de la quadrature du cercle.

A Paris: chez Jacques Langlois, Imprimeur ordinaire du Roy, dans la grande Sale du Palais, à la Reyne de Paix. M. DC. LVIII [1658]. [8] 76 [4] pp. (last 3 blank) p. With numerous woodcut geometrical diagrams in text, most full-page, one folded. Device on title page, and woodcut tail pieces.

A rare and richly illustrated 17th-century treatise on the classical problems of cube duplication and circle squaring, with an early visual nod to Copernican astronomy.

First edition of this rare mathematical treatise confronting two of the most famous problems of classical geometry: the duplication of the cube and the quadrature of the circle. These problems—long attempted but ultimately impossible to solve using only straightedge and compass—were not formally proven to be unsolvable until the 19th century. Jouvin’s work predates these impossibility proofs and reflects 17th-century mathematical culture, in which such challenges were still pursued in earnest, often with a mixture of geometric, numerical, and heuristic tools. The sections on cube duplication and circle squaring are supported by detailed woodcut diagrams—most of them full-page—showing each step of the geometric constructions, often with labeled points and auxiliary lines to guide the reader through the proposed methods.

The final chapter, titled Du nouveau Systeme du Monde, shifts from geometry to astronomy. It briefly outlines a simplified version of the Copernican planetary system, illustrated with a circular schematic showing the Sun at the center and the known planets in concentric orbits. Though the presentation is purely descriptive, without theoretical development, the inclusion of this diagram reflects Jouvin’s broader interest in making scientific ideas visually accessible. It also underscores the transitional nature of the period, when heliocentrism was gaining traction but still circulated cautiously.

Though anonymous on the title page, the dedication is signed by [Jacques] Jouvin. Jouvin studied in Orléans (Naudé 2000) and later became a doctor of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. He was active in Parisian intellectual circles from the 1620s onward—a physician, bibliophile (La Fizelière 1868), and contributor to the 1625 first edition of Gabriel Naudé’s Apologie pour tous les grands personnages qui ont été faussement soupçonnez de magie (Fauvelle 1899). He belonged to the milieu of the libertins érudits (Pintard 2000). His intellectual connections included figures such as Guy Patin (Capron 2018) and François de La Mothe Le Vayer, to whom the present work is dedicated (Ruellet 2016).

Rare: Besides this one, RBH records only one copy at auction, from the Macclesfield sale (Sotheby’s, 2005). WorldCat locates just four institutional copies, only one of them outside France (University College London).

Bound together, these two rare works reflect a shared interest in the practical application of geometry and mechanical invention. Jouvin’s mathematical treatise explores classical problems through visual and numerical constructions, while the Explication documents one of the earliest public exhibitions of engineering models, emphasizing demonstration over abstraction. Their pairing suggests a collector attuned to the emerging culture of applied science in late 17th-century.

Provenance: Antonio Orsetti (contemporary ink inscription, “Antoine Orsetti,” to the front free endpaper). The Lucca nobleman, writer, and bibliophile (fl. c. 1700) is otherwise little documented, but evidence of his substantial scientific and mathematical library survives in numerous institutional holdings and occasionally appears in auction and booksellers’ catalogues. His name is sometimes misrecorded as “Orfetti.” He is also the author of an unpublished manuscript on artillery, Pratica Demonstrativa per l’Artiglieria, a detailed technical treatise on cannon casting and measurement, formerly in the stock of H.P. Kraus (see Catalogue 210, item 102).

References: Capron, L. (ed.) (2018). Correspondance complète de Guy Patin et autres écrits. Paris: Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de santé. Letter to Charles Spon, 18 June 1658, note 20; Fauvelle, R. (1899). Les étudiants en médecine de Paris sous le grand Roi. Études, vie médicale, vie privée, et société bourgeoise [Dissertation]. Paris: Steinheil; La Fizelière, A. de (1868). Notes et documents pour servir à l’histoire de quelques libraires, éditeurs et bibliophiles. Paris: P. Daffis; Naudé, G. (2000). Œuvres complètes, éd. Frédéric Gabriel. Classiques Garnier. ; Pintard, R. (2000). Le libertinage érudit dans la première moitié du XVIIe siècle. Genève: Slatkine reprints; Ruellet, A. (2016). “Chapitre II. Patronage et culture de l’imprimé.” In La Maison de Salomon, Presses universitaires de Rennes.

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Price: €40,000.00