Collado - Manuale di Arteglieria - 1586

BALISTICS AND PROJECTILE TRAJECTORIES IN THE RENAISSANCE - CANNONS, MINES AND GUNPOWDER FOR SHOT
FIRST EDITION OF THE GREAT ILLUSTRATED TREATISE
Rare first edition of the Practical Manual of Artillerymaking by Luis Collado, published in Venice by Pietro Dusinelli in 1586, one of the most significant Renaissance treatises dedicated to the practical use of artillery, ballistics, and siege warfare. The work documents the crucial moment in which the refinement of firearms radically transformed European warfare and turned the artilleryman into a specialized technician, required to master geometry, proportions, metallurgy, gunpowder, and mechanics. Collado systematically addresses the origin and use of artillery, the transport and positioning of cannons against fortifications, the preparation and use of gunpowder, firing techniques, and the construction of mines destined, as the flamboyant frontispiece proclaims, to “make the fortresses fly high.” The section on ballistics is particularly important, where the research of Niccolò Tartaglia on projectile trajectories is taken up and developed. Numerous woodcut illustrations depict cannons, instruments, military operations, geometric problems, and siege techniques.
WHY TO BUY
FIRST EDITION – VENICE 1586! The rare initial drafting of Collado’s grand artillery treatise.
CANNONS + GUNPOWDER + MINES! An authentic operational manual of Renaissance warfare.
AT THE ORIGINS OF BALLISTICS! Collado develops the revolutionary theories of Niccolò Tartaglia on projectile trajectories.
ABUNDANTLY ILLUSTRATED! Cannons, instruments, and military geometry in numerous sixteenth-century technical woodcuts.

MARKET VALUE
A complete specimen of the first Venetian edition of 1586, with the entire original illustrative apparatus and in good condition, belongs to a significant collectible tier of military history and Renaissance science and can reach values of several thousand euros. The present specimen includes some pages replaced or integrated in facsimile. Considering the edition’s rarity, the historical-scientific importance of the text, and the presence of numerous original plates and illustrations, a retail indicative value for this particular study copy is realistically in the range of €700‑1,000.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
Pp. (2), 14 nn., 184, (2). Volume bound in parchment. The text is accompanied by numerous woodcut figures devoted to cannons, artillery, ballistics, tools, geometry, and military techniques. This copy is incomplete and offered as a study copy: some plates are missing and others have been replaced or integrated by facsimile. Browning, foxing, stains, restorations and normal signs of use compatible with age. As with all old volumes, slight defects or restorations not expressly mentioned may be present.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Luis Collado, also known as Luigi Collado.
Pratica manuale di arteglieria.
In Venetia: appresso Pietro Dusinelli, 1586.
FIRST EDITION.
Pp. (2), 14 nn., 184, (2).
With numerous woodcut figures in the text devoted to artillery, ballistics and military technique.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Luis Collado was a artilleryman, military engineer and Spanish technician active in the second half of the 16th century, deeply connected with the military milieu of the Habsburg monarchy and Northern Italy. His training was essentially practical: he belonged to that new category of professional military men who, with the systematic rise of artillery, needed knowledge not only of military science but also of mathematics, mechanics and metallurgy. The Practical Manual directly testifies to this experience. Collado tackles concrete problems related to the construction, transport and use of cannons, the quality and preparation of gunpowder, the choice of charges, siege techniques and mines. The knowledge of Tartaglia’s researches is particularly significant, as one of the pioneers of Renaissance mathematical ballistics. Collado absorbed some ideas and attempted to adapt them to the concrete needs of the field artilleryman. After the first Italian Venetian edition of 1586, he substantially reorganized his work in the Plática manual de artillería, published in Spanish in Milan in 1592 and significantly expanded compared with the first edition.

RARITY
The first Venetian edition of 1586 is considerably rarer and bibliographically more important than the later Spanish version of 1592. The two editions present differences such that they attest to a profound revision of the work, making the Italian Practical Manual a document autonomous in the history of military treatises. The technical and practical nature of the book also contributed to the dispersion of copies: volumes of this kind were intended for concrete use by artillerymen, engineers and military personnel and are frequently worn, mutilated, or incomplete. The present specimen cannot be considered a complete collectible copy due to gaps and facsimiles, but it remains of interest as testimony to the rare first edition and preserves a significant portion of the original woodcut apparatus.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
The Practical Manual of Artillerymaking belongs to a decisive moment in the history of European military technology. In the 16th century, advances in cannon casting, gunpowder production, and firing techniques radically altered the balance between offense and defense. Medieval fortifications became vulnerable and new bastioned systems were developed specifically to resist artillery. At the same time, the craft of the artilleryman became increasingly technical and required skills in geometry, proportions, distance measurement, and projectile behavior. Collado perfectly embodies this transformation. Notably significant is his conception of projectile trajectory, derived from Tartaglia’s research: an essentially straight initial phase, a middle zone of progressive curvature, and a final phase of fall. Although prior to the mathematical formulation of parabolic trajectory, this model represents an important milestone in the history of ballistics. The sections on mines and sieges also show the progressive intertwining of engineering, explosives and military architecture, making the Practical Manual a primary source for understanding the technological revolution of Renaissance warfare.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Maurice J. D. Cockle, A Bibliography of English Military Books up to 1642 and of Contemporary Foreign Works, no. 668.
Luis Collado, Pratica manuale di arteglieria, Venezia, Pietro Dusinelli, 1586.
Luis Collado, Plática manual de artillería, Milano, 1592.
Niccolò Tartaglia, Nova scientia, Venezia, 1537.
Niccolò Tartaglia, Quesiti et inventioni diverse, Venezia, 1546.
Bert S. Hall, Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics.
Friedrich Klemm, A History of Western Technology.
J. R. Partington, A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder.
Repertori bibliografici dedicati alla storia dell’artiglieria, della balistica e dell’ingegneria militare rinascimentale.