Radi, Arcangelo Maria 1665
Nuovo Scienza di Horologi a Polvere che Mostrano e Suonan Distintamente Tutte l'Hore.

Rome: Fabio di Falco for Ponzio Bernardon, 1665.

First edition, quarto, [pi]4, A-E4, F1; first signature completely engraved, including title and three leaves of plates, followed by typographically printed text; bound in contemporary limp parchment, decased, 9 x 6 1/2 in.

Riccardi ii, 332; Tomash & Williams R2.

"This is the first (and perhaps the only) work on sand clocks. It describes a time-keeping mechanism, driven by weights, that is regulated by a large revolving drum gradually spilling sand from one chamber into another. The mechanism includes a system to sound the hours by striking a bell." (Erwin Tomash & Michael R. Williams, The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing: an Annotated and Illustrated Catalog, 2009.)