Guidobaldo del Monte's Mechanicorum liber

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Guidobaldo Marchese del Monte was born on January 11, 1515 in Pesaro, in the territories of the Duke of Urbino. He died in 1607 in Montebaroccio. In 1577 Guidobaldo published his first book, the Mechanicorum liber, which is reprinted here in a facsimile edition. The book is a comprehensive treatise on mechanics dealing with the five simple machines, the lever, the pulley, the wheel on an axle, the wedge, and the screw. Their properties were in turn derived from the workings of the balance and the lever. The idea that every mechanism can be reduced to these five simple machines goes back to Heron of Alexandria and has been transmitted to the early modern period by Pappus, while the foundational role of balance and lever goes back to the Problemata Mechanica ascribed to Aristotle. In 1581, Guidobaldo's influential work was translated into Italian by Filippo Pigafetta, 1533 1604. --- 'Sources' of the Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge is a series presenting historical documents in a new format which combines the advantages of traditional printed books with those of the digital medium. In each volume a source text relevant for the history of knowledge is reproduced, typically in facsimile, together with an introduction and commentaries reflecting original scholarly work. The volumes are available both as print-on-demand books and as open-access publications on the Internet. The material is freely accessible online at www.edition-open-access.de, supplemented by additional information and interactive features. The original works reproduced in this series are typically rare books or manuscripts that are not readily accessible in libraries.