En tibi lector Robertum Valturium ... De re militari libris XII : multò emaculatius, ac picturis, quae plurimae in eo sunt, elegantioribus expressum, quàm cùm Veronae ... anno M.cccclxxxiii. inuulgaretur
A 1534 Paris printing by Christian Wechel of Roberto Valturio's Renaissance treatise on military art, a Latin text on war machines and fortification issued for scholars and engineers. Its woodcut plates were engraved in the earlier Verona edition, and its diagrams show siege towers, scaling ladders, carts and catapult-like engines drawn in clean, rigid outline with labels above each plate; a designer might borrow their plain mechanical linework and tidy captioned layouts.
