Hanzelet (appier) - The Pyrotechnics Of Hanzelet Lorrain. Pont-à-mousson, 1630, Vellum Binding.

HANZELET (Appier) - The pyrotechnics of Hanzelet Lorrain where the rarest & most approved secrets of machines & artificial fires are represented to besiege, beat, surprise & defend all places. Pont-à-Mousson, I & Gaspard Bernard, 1630; in-4, VI-264 pp., period full vellum binding, smooth spine. Brunet I, 358; Graesse 208; Beaupré 413-414. Very complete work with the very beautiful engraved title page and its 133 placed engravings, in and out of text. (14 full-page plates). Second edition, recast and expanded, of the Collection of several military machines and artificial fires by Lorraine Jean Appier Hanzelet, printer and engraver, published in 1620. Many war machines are represented here for the first time; the book also discusses fireworks at length. His nickname Hanzelet, diminutive of Hans and synonymous with “Little John”, was given to him to distinguish him from his father; the latter, Jean Appier, engineer to Dukes Charles III and Henri II, contributed to the establishment of the fortifications of Nancy. Hanzelet was established as a printer in Pont-à-Mousson around 1620; he was at the same time a remarkable engraver. He lost his position as printer in 1628 after having published a work by a university professor without the rector's visa. He was then named “Maistres des feus artificiales” (powder engineer and director of artillery) by Duke Charles IV of Lorraine. The one who, for Dom Calmet, was a “very inventive spirit and skilled worker in different genres” died in Italy in 1647.