Palatino 766 pipes, pools, cliffs, streams... (by Taccola)

[Bernd]

You are probably correct, Jorge.
It looks like Palatino 766 was bound from loose paper leaves rather than bifolios - even though the manus description mentions a removed bifolio.

Da un più ampio lavoro che doveva avere sul suo scrittoio in forma di fogli sciolti (o legati in maniera leggera), raccolse allora quelli relativi al lib. III, eliminò un bifoglio probabilmente bianco (il salto nella num. di sua mano sopra descritto non sembra dovuto a errore) e aggiunse un apparato di dedica, paratestuale e decorativo

As noted by Gentile (1885) and Jähns (1889), the manuscript [Pal.767] contains a copy of Palat. 766. It also contains material from Books I and II and the Mill, Pump, and Gear Complexes. In all cases the copying is close. The manuscript copies Books III and IV in a form independent of Urb. Lat. 1757 and in much wider selection, while it copies large portions of the other contents in a form that repeats peculiarities of the Urbino codicetto. In particular, many deviations from Lat. 197, found in the Urbino booklet, reappear here. The impression arises that Palat. 767 is based on Palat. 766 and Urb. Lat. 1757, not Lat. 197.

So they apparently believe that 767 derives from the "codicetto" by Francesco di Giorgio Martini Urb.Lat.1757, a copy of Taccola's Books I and II autograph Lat.197. They say it appears to derive directly from Taccola's autograph Palat.766 for Books III and IV.

Yes, I'm aware of that. But I'd like to determine to what degree this really is the case. You showed a very compelling example of a faithful reproduction of 766 imagery in 767. But the vast majority of 766 imagery appears not to have been copied (including all relevant for the VM). Neither in 767, nor in Urb. Lat. 1757. Calling them copies of 766 is a stretch. They contain a fraction of the imagery. But this is just my preliminary assessment. I want to find out exactly which unique 766 imagery is found in any of the alleged copies - but not in Taccola's Book I-II or De machinis.