Lot 24: COLOMBONI, ANGELO MARIA

Prattica Gnomonica, overo Tavole, con le quali ciascuno agevolmente può far da sè gli Horologi da Sole. Bologna: Heirs of Domenico Barbieri, 1669

Thick 8vo (8 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.; 207 x 155 mm.). Woodcut title vignette, woodcut illustrations, diagrams, tail-piece and decorative initials, typographic head-piece, red sprinkled edges; scattered marginal spotting, small tear in lower margin of leaf 3F2. 18th-century boards, in a cloth slipcase; rebacked.

With his:

Pratica Gnomonica, overo Tavole, con le quali ciascuno può fare da se horologi da Sole... di D. Angelo Maria Colomboni da Gubbio E da F[ra] Felice Dalla Cerqua Capuccino Compendiate; Et aggiuntovi il Quadrante E Cilindro. [Gubbio: 3rd quarter 17th century]

Manuscript, 8vo (7 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.; 190 x 122 mm), 104 leaves, plus 3 blank leaves, written in an italic hand in dark brown ink, other hands on leaves 10-12. Decorative additional title in a cartouche within a scalloped frame, pen-and-ink diagrams, illustrations and tables, a working sundial in paper-covered wood set into the binding with gradations, cardinal directions and hours delineated in red and black ink, with a rotating wooden disc and moveable brass arm, another hours diagram provided on vellum front pastedown; new endpapers, both titles mounted, hole in decorative title due to ink corrosion mended with tissue, mended tears in lower margin of last 2 leaves. 16th-century blind-tooled calf remboîtage decorated in a panel design with blind-stamped rosettes, fleur-de-lys and ropework tools, remains of brass clasps and catches, brass bosses, in a cloth drop-box; rebacked with original spine laid down, a brass clasp attached to upper cover catches a brass hook piercing that cover meant to enclose the sundial when not in use, some pinholes in the rotating disc from the fastening mechanism.

PROVENANCE

Manuscript: Capuchin Library, Foligno (oval stamp on title) ?Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois. Printed: Alberico Montanari (ms. exlibris dated 1807) ? Honeyman (his sale, Sotheby's 30 April 1979, lot 737) ? Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Printed version: Riccardi I, 358, 1; Sotheran, Suppl. I, 2854
CATALOGUE NOTE

First edition of this extensive monograph on the construction of sundials with a decorative manuscript version of the text. While the printed version treats latitudes between 40 and 45 degrees, the manuscript was compiled for use in the 43rd parallel, by a Capuchin contemporary.