Mathematicall magick. Or, the wonders that may be performed by mechanicall geometry in two books, concerning mechanical powers [and] motions : being one of the most easie, pleasant, useful, (and yet most neglected) part of mathematicks ...
John Wilkins's 1680 Mathematicall Magick, printed in London for Edward Gellibrand, is a seventeenth-century treatise on mechanics that explains simple machines and motion through geometry for a general reader curious about mechanical wonders. The three diagrams are plain line drawings of geometric figures, a lever and fulcrum, and a cylinder with a helical screw path, showing how forces and angles are laid out; a designer could borrow their clean technical linework, dotted construction lines, and labelled points.
![Picture 1 of 3 from Mathematicall magick. Or, the wonders that may be performed by mechanicall geometry in two books, concerning mechanical powers [and] motions : being one of the most easie, pleasant, useful, (and yet most neglected) part of mathematicks ... (1680), leaf 311](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-b30327751-311-0.webp)
![Picture 2 of 3 from Mathematicall magick. Or, the wonders that may be performed by mechanicall geometry in two books, concerning mechanical powers [and] motions : being one of the most easie, pleasant, useful, (and yet most neglected) part of mathematicks ... (1680), leaf 311](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-b30327751-311-1.webp)
![Picture 3 of 3 from Mathematicall magick. Or, the wonders that may be performed by mechanicall geometry in two books, concerning mechanical powers [and] motions : being one of the most easie, pleasant, useful, (and yet most neglected) part of mathematicks ... (1680), leaf 321](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-b30327751-321-0.webp)