Mathematicall recreations, or, A collection of sundrie problemes, extracted out of the ancient and moderne philosophers, as secrets in nature, and experiments in arithmeticke, geometrie, cosmographie, horologographie, astronomie, navigations, musicke, opticks, architecture, staticke, machanicks, chimestrie, waterworkes, fireworks, &c. : not vulgarly made manifest untill this time : fit for schollers, students, and gentlemen, that desire to know the philosophicall cause of many admirable conclusions : vsefull for others, to actuate and stirre them up to the search of further knowledge : and serviceable to all for many excellent things, both for pleasure and recreation : most of which were written first in Greeke and Latine
A 1633 London compilation of mathematical and scientific recreations, printed by T. Cotes for Richard Hawkins and aimed at scholars, students and gentlemen who wanted philosophical explanations of experiments in geometry, optics, mechanics and fireworks. The woodcut and engraved diagrams show perspective construction lines, a suspended cylinder apparatus with lettered parts, a small landscape with a house and tower, and numbered triangular forms. A designer could draw on their clean line work, lettered labels and precise geometric schematics for period diagrams.
