Valturio - [Post Incunable] De Re Militari - 1532

Engineering of Conflict and Victory: War Manual for Principles
This Basel edition of 1532 of De re militari by Roberto Valturio represents one of the most important testimonies of the Renaissance transmission of ancient and medieval military knowledge in a systematic and illustrated form. The treatise, conceived as an encyclopedic synthesis of strategy, fortification, mechanics and army discipline, stands out for its exceptional woodcut iconographic apparatus, which translates into images the alliance between mathematics, technique and political power. Published by Christian Wechel, a leading printer in the Rhine region, this cinque­cento edition consolidates the European fortune of the work, already celebrated in the Quattrocento as a reference text for princes, captains and military engineers. The exemplar eloquently documents the transformation of war into a rational science and into an art of governability, a cornerstone of humanistic political ideology.
Market value
The illustrated sixteenth-century editions of De re militari by Valturio are firmly present in the international market for antique books with sustained valuations, especially for copies complete with the iconographic apparatus. The Basel printing of 1532, appreciated for the clarity of the woodcuts and for the typographic quality of the Wechel workshop, falls in a mid-to-high market range. The value is determined primarily by the completeness of the plates, the condition of preservation, and the structural solidity of the volume. Exemplars in good condition, even with signs of use historically consistent, are sought after by collectors of scientific books, military history, and the history of technology, and they range between €3,000 and €5,000.

Physical description and condition
Subsequent binding that reuses a folio of a medieval manuscript antiphonary, bearing musical notation on a tetragram and a miniature initial. Presence of ancient restorations, reinforcements and signs of use. Typographic title page with a large woodcut mark; numerous woodcuts in the text depicting war machines, siege engines, fortifications, mechanical devices and geometric diagrams; woodcut initials and typographic ornaments. Leaves with browning, stains, creases and some reinforcement. In old books, with a history spanning centuries, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. 12nn; 384.

Full title and author
On military matters.
Paris, at Christian Wechel's, 1532.
Roberto Valturio.

Context and Significance
The De re militari is one of the foundational texts of modern military literature. Written in the second half of the 15th century and dedicated to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the treatise fits into the humanistic rediscovery of classical sources, particularly Vegetius, integrating them with contemporary observations and with a strong interest in applied mechanics. The famous woodcuts, which illustrate real and speculative war machines, anticipate the visual language of Renaissance engineering and profoundly influence later authors, up to Leonardo da Vinci. The work is not merely a technical manual, but a political manifesto: war is presented as a rational activity, governed by science and by the prince’s virtue, detached from arbitrariness and chaos.

Biography of the Author
Roberto Valturio was born in Rimini in 1405 and died in 1475. A humanist, architect and military engineer, he was tied to the Malatesta court and served as technical and intellectual adviser. Deeply immersed in classical culture, he knew how to translate ancient knowledge into a new language, suited to the political and military needs of his time. De re militari is his most famous work and it established him as one of the key figures in the history of Renaissance applied science.

Printing history and circulation
De re militari gained remarkable print diffusion starting from the Verona first edition of 1472, one of the earliest illustrated books in the history of typography. Subsequ ent editions, including this Basel 1532 edition, helped consolidate its fame across Europe. The workshop of Christian Wechel, active between Paris and Basel, was central in the transmission of humanist and scientific texts, ensuring a high standard of quality both typographic and iconographic. The circulation of the work was widespread in military, academic, and courtly contexts, making it a true classic of the technical Renaissance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
EDIT16, CNCE 35747
USTC, Basel edition 1532, Christian Wechel
J.R. Hale, Renaissance War Studies
P. Galluzzi, The Engineers of the Renaissance
A. Grafton, Humanism and the Art of War