KIRCHER, Athanasius. Musurgia universalis sive Ars magna consoni et dissoni in X. libros digesta. Romæ, ex typographia hæredum Francisci Corbelletti, anno jubilæi 1650

2 vols. folio, mm. 3234x220; Contemporary full sheepskin binding, spine with golden ribs, sprinkled edges; pp. [22 , including Frontispiece, Titlepage and Portrait], 690 [.i.e. 692], [24], 10 copper plates; pp. [2, Tit.], 462, [12], 2 bl., 11 copper plates. At the first vol., p. 575-576 repeated in the numeration; the plates are numbered I-XXIII; engravings IV e V are in a single plate, engravings XI and XII are in a single plate, at the beginning of the vol 2; final pages not numbered, with the Index and the Register, are put at the end of the first vol. Roman, Italic, Greek and Jewish type. Vignette on Title page, Initials, Head-pieces, Ornaments, Music notations and a lot of illustrations in different size, even at full page, all woodcuts within the text. A total of 23 copper plates out text: Pictorial Frontispiece, Portrait of Arcduke Leopoldo of Austria and 21 plates, of which 4 folded in the second volume.

Rare first edition beautifully illustrated. In this monumental encyclopedia of music, Kircher deals with the sound, the history and the practice of music and metaphysics. Therefore, the themes examined are: anatomy of the vocal cords and ear; music by the ancient Jews from the seventeenth century, with the tools and the different theories; manufacture of instruments, acoustic and composition; angelic harmony and world music. Kircher was assisted by the Kapellmeister Antonio Maria Abbatini and illustrated his arguments with concrete examples taken from the production of Allegri, Frescobaldi, Forgerger, Palestrina. The work concludes with the description of interesting music technology experiments: here exposes his mathematical system to compose music, a sort of ante-litteram computer, speaks of the singing of automata and the megaphone of his own invention, accompanied by diagrams that permit to display additional sound amplifier systems. Findlen: “It is not surprising that Kircher recorded the first - though imperfect - description of a speaking trumpet. He also reported on remarkable echoes and on the sound of a bell in a vacuum campana ringed by a magnet but did not reach a genuine interpretation of the phenomenon.” The refined plates with the instruments are a valuable source for the history of music. BM STC It. C17th p. 462; Honeyman V 1816; Caillet II 363; DSB 7-8, p. 374-6; Merrill 8. Grove IV p 761-2; Dünnhaupt 2332,8; De Backer-S. IV, 1051, 11; MGG VII, 938. Wolffheim I, 732; Eitner V, 369. Cfr. Athenasius Kircher: The Last Man Who Knew Everything, ed. Paula Findlen, Routledge, 2004. The Lot is offered with a valid export licence.