Nuovo trattato sulla vera rettificazione del circolo misurato esattame...

1817. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. Nuovo trattato sulla vera rettificazione del circolo misurato esattamente con il diametro: utile alla trigonometria, alla misura delle curve, e degli spazj curvilinei... Con una dissertazione sul modo di navigare sott'acqua, inventato dallo stesso autore l'anno 1799. By Gaetano Marchetti Tomassi. 75, [1], 34 pp. Illustrated with 6 etched folding plates. 8vo., 202 x 142 mm, bound in nineteenth-century Italian vellum. Fuglino: Feliciano Campitelli, 1817. Second Edition. Dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia. Count Gaetano Marchetti Tomassi (1774-1857), born in Foligno near Perugia, was an amateur mathematician who experimented with various methods of squaring the circle, the results of which are documented in this text. The first part of the book concentrates on circles, the second part contains a discussion on conic sections, and part three elucidates his research on various curves. However, the real interest and value of Tomassi's book is found in the fourth part which discusses his researches "on a mode of navigating under water." In 34 pages the author describes a crude model of a submarine that he has invented. It protected a man while navigating submerged for long periods of time. Tomassi also alludes to the military possibilities of a submarine, and he states that classical artillery could be preserved dry and functionable in his submarine. The author cites in a footnote on page 3 of Parte Quarta that a first edition of this work exists dated 1814, however, no copy of that edition is listed in OCLC, and no sources turned up a copy anywhere. No copies of either edition at auction as listed in ABPC. Cat. Weil 6, 275: "very uncommon ... seems to be very rare ...".