1583 RARE EDITION ON ENGINEERING, PNEUMATICS, HYDRAULICS, MECHANICS, PHYSICS, THERMAL HYDRAULICS, SPECIAL EFFECTS by Hero or Heron of Alexandria (1st – 2nd century AD), was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria of Egypt, during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimentalist of antiquity. This book with the title Spiritalium Liber (Spirituals Book) also known as "Pneumatica" is richly illustrated with 90 detailed engravings, the work describes approximately 90 hydraulic and pneumatic machines, including automata, mechanisms for the Greek theatre and temples, fountains, heated pools, and steam mechanisms, fundamental to the study of ancient mechanics. The Aeolipile (Aeolus' sphere or Hero's engine), a device believed to be the ancestor of the jet engine and the steam engine, is described here for the first time. In addition to hydraulics, water management, pneumatics, physics, heating, and fluid motion (water, wine, oil), Hero also explores special effects for royal courts and temples to make religious rituals even more solemn and mysterious, for example the creation of smoke and sound effects. This is the second edition and, like the first edition, is translated by Federico Commandino (1509–1575), an Italian mathematician, humanist, and typographer, one of the major translators of the works of the great mathematicians of antiquity. Pages intact, rare defects, richly decorated antique binding, all in excellent condition. References; World Cat OCLC n°977115316 & 17460349; USTC n°206776 & 170693; Herbert M. Adams H-370; Riccardi I, 364; Andrew Pettegree, Malcolm Walsby and Alexander Wilkinson, FB: Books published before 1601 n°73715; Cicognara, 932 (1575 first edition); Paris, France, Bibliothèque Mazarine Shelfmark: 4° A 15247-1; London, United Kingdom, British Library Shelfmark: 1396.e.20; Madrid, Spain, Biblioteca Nacional de España Shelfmark: R/14512; Woodcroft, Bennet (1851). The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria. London: Taylor Walton and Maberly; Drachmann, A. G. (1972). "Hero of Alexandria". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston (ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 6 (Hachette–Hyrtl). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 310–314; Roby, Courtney Ann (2023). The mechanical tradition of Hero of Alexandria: strategies of reading from antiquity to the early modern period. New York: Cambridge University Press. COMPLETE SECOND EDITION. The first edition of 1575 also translated by Federico Commandino was sold for GBP 5,250.00 here https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6040990, the present second edition is offered at a fraction of that price. The book is called Spiritalium Liber (Spirituals Book) because for the ancients, being able to move and control fluids, air, heat, sounds, smoke, movements was something magical, supernatural, since they were considered impalpable domains linked more to the spirit than to earthly things. Commandino's translation deals with Hero's work on siphons, fluxions, mechanical toys and other machines that are propelled by steam power. Heron demonstrated for the first time the propulsive force of steam, thanks to a machine called aeolipile. The main component of Heron's aeolipile is a hollow sphere with two mirrored L-shaped nozzles. Heated water was poured into a brazier inside the sphere, which was then ejected from the nozzles as steam. In addition to the smoke produced, another effect of the heating was the rotation of the sphere, due to the opposing thrusts of the two jets. But the book also illustrates and describes his more light-hearted inventions and experiments, including an apparatus that makes a sound like various different singing birds accompanied by trumpets, a jug that will store and pour out separately or in constant proportions three different sorts of wine, and a sculpture of Hercules and a dragon, which, whan a knob is pushed, makes Hercules fire an arrow at the dragon, and the dragon hiss in return. The sound of thunder was produced by the mechanically-timed dropping of metal balls onto a hidden drum, a wind-wheel operating an organ, marking the first documented instance of wind powering a machine. TITLE: Heronis Alexandrini Spiritalium Liber. A Federico Commandino Urbinate, Ex Graeco nuper in Latinum conversus...(Hero of Alexandria's Spirituals Book. By Federico Commandino of Urbino, recently translated from Greek into Latin...) AUTHORS: Hero or Heron of Alexandria (1st – 2nd century AD), translated by Federico Commandino (1509–1575) PUBLISHER: Aegidium Gorbinum (Gilles Gourbin near the Collegium Cameracense in Paris), with its typographic trademark depicting Pandora opening the urn and releasing monsters into the world, and motto "Spes sola remansit intus" (Only hope remained within) DATE: MDLXXXIII (1583), text in Latin DESCRIPTION: In 4° size, height 198 x width 157 mm (7.8 by 6.2 inches). Pages 163 [1]. Antique red morocco binding, richly decorated on the covers, floral decorations on the spine and titles, intact, solid, minimal defects as shown in the photos. The pages are all in excellent condition, intact, well printed, almost without stains or defects. Very good copy with all the 90 illustrations and experiments, some numbering errors but COMPLETE SECOND EDITION. AUTHOR: Hero of Alexandria (1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimentalist of antiquity and published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile, also known as "Hero's engine". Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land. In his work Mechanics, he described pantographs. Some of his ideas were derived from the works of Ctesibius. In mathematics, he wrote a commentary on Euclid's Elements and a work on applied geometry known as the Metrica. He is mostly remembered for Heron's formula; a way to calculate the area of a triangle using only the lengths of its sides. Much of Hero's original writings and designs have been lost, but some of his works were preserved in manuscripts from the Byzantine Empire and, to a lesser extent, in Latin or Arabic translations. 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