The book “Elementorum architecturae militaris” by Nikolaus Goldmann, is a in 4 volumes written guideline to the elementary military architecture of the 17th century. The 4 volumes are divided in an introduction with a heading of the volume, followed by the proposal (a summary of Goldmann’s theorems) the figure (the formulation of the theorem) and concluded with drawings of military architecture.
The representation of the text is not fully centred on the page, instead placed close to the inside of the book, leaving a big margin of paper empty on the outer side of the page. Goldmanns words, letters and sentences differ on a large scale of varieties. He usually uses block letters, which sizes differentiate, it is smaller in tables and bigger on the rest of the page, he also utilises the cursive a lot for the theorems under the proposals or in case he wants to highlight specific words or sentences.
The book being specifically a technical text, is mostly organised with lists of numbers and numerous tables. The book being a scientific representation they are used to sustain Goldmann’s theories and arguments, making the reader able to verify his thought. Reading further the reader is able to fully comprehend and memorize Goldmann’s words by visualizing the sum up text in form of mindmaps. In the end of the “Elementorum architecturae militaris” there are finally the representations of the before described military architecture, there are different illustrations of the fortification systems and bastions of the 17th century. The images are very important for the understanding of the reader and are because of that illustrated on double pages. They are the practical representation of Goldmann’s understanding of military architecture in its different shapes.
The book is in conclusion aimed as a handbook for the patrons and aristocrats of the 17th century, the leaders of an army, to improve their combat strategies and defend their reign.