BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE

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Transcribed version of the text

French

     Jacques Besson did not write a sequel to his Livre premier des instruments mathematiques et mechaniques although he had indicated that he would. His projects were interrupted by his death in 1573. A contract signed October 20, 1573 by Jean Lepreux, bookseller, promises "Nicolle Dongnon veuve de Me Jacques Besson, en son vivant mathématicien du Roi, de l’amener avec ses cinq enfants et un paquet de hardes pesant cent livres" as far as Lausanne or Morgues. In these old clothes were no doubt to be found copper plates which would be used for the editions of the Théâtre published in 1578 in Lyon by Barthélémy Vincent, "avec l’interprétation des figures d’iceluy par François Beroald". In fact, the book was published in Geneva by Jean de Laon and Claude Juge.
The real success of the work began with this posthumous publication, enlarged by the commentaries of François Béroalde de Verville, completed, in the following Latin and Italian editions (1682) and the French one (1694) by Giulio Cesare Paschali. In 1578 Barthélémy Vincent then published this second edition three times, one with the Latin text reproduced here, another with the French text and finally one with a bilingual title (Latin/French) and French text.
Denise Hillard studied the following modifications of the Théâtre (1979). Let us retain here only the decisive part that Béroalde de Verville played in the improvement of the work, by his "déclarations" of the machines and instruments presented "sans lesquelles elles seraient à la vérité, comme un corps sans âme". But it is also necessary to recall the role of Claude Juge, without whose financing the Théâtre would not have had as fine a career in France as abroad, attested by its successive editions. Among all the "théâtres de machines", Besson's Théâtre was the most widely translated and published, without taking into account its inclusion in the collections of 17^th century machines, such as the Theatri machinarum by Heinrich Zeising (Altenburg, 1614), the Traité d’architecture manuscrit by Jacques Gentilhâtre (Paris, BnF, ms. fr. 14727), the Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo Luzui by Wang Zheng (Yangzhou, 1627). At the end of the 17^th century, in 1683, many of Besson's machines were displayed in a famous exhibition of machines taking place on the rue de la Harpe in Paris.

Hélène Vérin (Centre national de la recherche scientifique , Paris) – 2008

Critical bibliography

J. Besson, Instrumentorum et machinarum quas Jacobus Bessonus Delphinas mathematicus et a machinis practer alia excogitavit multisque vigiliis et laboribus excaluit ad zerum multarum intellectu difficillimarum explicationem et totius Reipublicae utilitatem (facsimile of the edition 1569-c1571), Paris, Jardin de Flore, 1978.

A. G. Keller, "The Missing Years of Jacques Besson, Inventor of Machines, Teacher of Mathematics, Distiller of Oils, and Huguenot Pastor", Technology and Culture, 14, 1, january 1973, pp. 28-39.

A. G. Keller, "A manuscript Version of Jacques Besson’s Book of Machines, with his unpublished Principles of Mechanics", B. S. Hall & D. C. West (ed.), On Pre-Modern Technology and Science, Malibu, Undena Publications, 1976, pp. 75-103.

L. Dolza & H. Vérin, "Figurer la mécanique : l’énigme des théâtres de machines de la Renaissance", Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, 51-2, 2004-2, pp. 7-37.

L. Dolza & H. Vérin, Theatrum instrumentorum et machinarum : Lione, 1578 di Jacques Besson, introduction, facsimile of the 1578 edition, Rome, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 2001.

E. Droz, Chemins de l’Hérésie, textes et documents, 4, Geneva, Slatkine, 1976, pp. 271-374.

D. Hillard, "Jacques Besson et son Théâtre des instruments mathématiques", Revue française d'histoire du livre, 22, 1979, pp. 5-38.

D. Hillard, "Jacques Besson et son Théâtre des instruments mathématiques : recherches complémentaires", Revue française d'histoire du livre, 30, 1981, pp. 47-69.