'The Beginning of Modern Hydraulics'
CASTELLI, Benedetto Della Misura dell' Acque Correnti. Rome, Stamparia Camerale, 1628
4to (204 x 152 mm), pp [iv] 59 [1] including engraved title page and engraved Barberini coat-of-arms on sectional title, numerous diagrams in text; a fine copy in contemporary limp vellum, with a presentation inscription on endleaf from Prince Francesco Maria de' Medici (see below). £4500
First edition of a work 'considered to be the beginning of modern hydraulics. Its fundamental propositions related the areas of cross sections of a river to the volumes of water passing in a given time. [Castelli] also discussed the relation of velocity and head in flow through an orifice' (DSB).
'This treatise on the speed of liquids in channels and on the measurement of that speed is the first to enunciate the well-known theorem in hydraulics known by the author's name. Castelli proposed the first accurate and effective methods for measuring the volume of moving water...
'This work was written at the request of Urban VIII, in order that means of controlling rivers might be perfected and devastating flooding avoided' (Trent and Roberts, Bibliotheca mechanica).
Castelli (1578-1643) was Galileo's closest disciple and a major proponent and teacher of Galilean thought. On Galileo's recommendation he became professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa.
The engraved title features a bridge on the Tiber, with the tiara and arms of Urban VIIII.
Provenance: Presentation inscription from Prince Francesco Maria de' Medici to Giuseppe del Papa (1649-1735). Papa was professor of philosophy at the University of Pisa and the author of books on Galilean physics.
Riccardi I 290; Trent and Roberts pp 66-67; NUC: IU NIC ICJ MCM; OCLC adds University of California (San Diego); Denver Public Library, Georgetown University, Smithsonian, University of Iowa, Harvard, NOAA library, Linda Hall, Columbia, and Case Western Reserve
£4500
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