Les livres d'architecture
| Author(s) | Besson, Jacques Béroalde de Verville, François Paschali, Giulio Androuet du Cerceau, Jacques Boyvin, René |
|---|---|
| Title | Il theatro de gl’instrumenti & machine di M. Iacopo Bessoni... |
| Imprint | Lyon, B. Vincent, 1582 |
| Localisation | Seville, University of Seville Library, A Res. 73/1/08 |
| Subject | Machines, Mathematics |
The success of the preceding Genevan editions of the Theatre des instrumens mathematiques et mechaniques de Jacques Besson ( 1578 et 1579 ) prompted Claude Juge, who had financed and published them in association with Jean de Laon, a master printer in Geneva, to ask Giulio Paschali for the present Italian translation. Paschali says he based it on the Latin edition of 1578, with new additions in subsequent editions of the work, in French ( 1594 and 1596 ) and in German ( 1595 ).
Giulio Paschali was a Protestant humanist, from a noble family of Messina, a refugee in Geneva since 1554. Very well-read and a poet, he translated Calvin’s Institutions from French in 1557 and the Psalms of David from Hebrew in 1592.
It is worth noticing that the ten-year privilege granted to Besson in 1569 for the first edition of his book (1571-72) was used again for this publication in 1582 as was the Lyon location, at the shop of Barthélemy Vincent, which avoided the necessity of obtaining a printing authorization from the Geneva Petit Conseil.
The dedication is addressed to the jurist Claudio Della Cov, a member of the Senate of Savoie. Perhaps it would thus be possible to win the favors of that institution which played a moderating role, faced with the the ambitions of the young duc de Savoie, Charles-Emmanuel I, to reconquer Geneva.
Hélène Vérin (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris) – 2009