Author: HANZELET (Appier). - La pyrotechnie de Hanzelet Lorr - Lot 780

Author: HANZELET (Appier). - La pyrotechnie de Hanzelet Lorrain ou sont representez les plus rares plus appreuvez secrets des machines des feux artificiels propres pour assiéger battre surprendre déffendre toutes places. Pont-à-Mousson, I Gaspard Bernard, 1630; in-4, VI-264 pp, antique paper boards, smooth spine, edges painted red. Complete with the handsome engraved title page and its 133 engravings, in and out of text. (14 full-page plates). Second edition, recast and enlarged, of the Recueil de plusieurs machines militaires et feux artificiels by Lorraine printer and engraver Jean Appier Hanzelet, published in 1620. Numerous war machines are represented here for the first time; the book also deals at length with fireworks. His nickname Hanzelet, a diminutive of Hans and synonymous with "Petit Jean", was given to him to distinguish him from his father, Jean Appier, engineer to Dukes Charles III and Henri II, who helped build Nancy's fortifications. Hanzelet was established as a printer in Pont-à-Mousson around 1620; he was also a remarkable engraver. He lost his position as printer in 1628 after publishing a work by a university professor without the rector's visa. He was subsequently appointed "Maistres des feux artificiels" (powder engineer and director of artillery) by Duke Charles IV of Lorraine. According to Dom Calmet, he was a "highly inventive mind and skilled craftsman in various fields" who died in Italy in 1647. Brunet I, 358; Graesse 208; Beaupré 413-414.