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# In the historic Herzog August Library in the German town of Wolfenbüttel is kept a mysterious sixteenth-century manuscript with numerous watercolour drawings of solid geometric figures accompanied by small beasts and birds, and entirely without…
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-istoricheskoi-biblioteke-gertsoga-avgusta-v-nemetskom-gorode-volfenbiuttel-khranitsia-zagadochnyi-manuskript-xvi-veka-s-mnogochislennymi-akvarelnymi-risunkami-obemnykh-geometricheskik/
- Published: 2023-06-14T06:36:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:25.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Art, Books, Science

In the historic Herzog August Library in the German town of Wolfenbüttel is kept a mysterious sixteenth-century manuscript with numerous watercolour drawings of solid geometric figures accompanied by small beasts and birds, and entirely without text, save for a few inscribed words: “Geometry and perspective. Regular solids.” There are no authorial comments, no title, no preface, only ethereal figures, from the simplest to the most complex and fantastic, attended by little totems such as a squirrel, a cockerel, an eagle, putti or a toad. Almost nothing is known of the book’s origin. Its makers remain unknown. One thing can be said for certain: the manuscript bears witness to the great interest of the German Renaissance in geometric solids, the mathematical study of polyhedra, and perspective.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_9136@14-06-2023_09-36-22.jpg)