Art Literature

The Ten Books of Architecture

Venice, Francesco Franceschi of Siena & Criegher, 1567

Author: Vitruvius Marcus Pollio

In-4, pp. (8), 505 (with numbering errors), beautiful contemporary parchment binding, manuscript title on the spine. Dedication of the translator to the Cardinal of Ferrara Ippolito d'Este, large number of beautiful silogr. initials, text in italic and roman type. Illustrated by an elegant silogr. frontispiece with an architectural motif and allegorical figures, taken from the edition by L.B. Alberti, 2 double-page plates and a large number of diagrams and silogr. figures, some full-page, attributed to Giov. Chriegher.

Excellent copy with few marginal signs of age.

SECOND EDITION of Vitruvian Architecture in the Italian translation and with the commentary by Daniele Barbaro, printed for the first time in 1556 with the iconographic apparatus to which Andrea Palladio contributed, in this new edition integrated and engraved again in a reduced format by Criegher.

Daniele Barbaro (Venice, 1514-1570), an important diplomat, philosopher and humanist, see DBI, VI/p. 94: "This is undoubtedly the most important literary work of B., where the author presents, under the pretext of a commentary on Vitruvius, his almost definitive theories on aesthetics. He forces the (Vitruvian) text by making a technical manual into a systematic composition, based on coherent Aristotelian principles with broad Pythagorean and Euclidean interferences. He tends to construct a true philosophy of science that presupposes a numerical order underlying the order of the universe, a mathematical cosmology. From this derives his concept of 'eurhythmy' as a fundamental law of every art, which finds its most complete realisation in architecture."

Adams V,917; Cicognara 717; Riccardi I,615.

Iconology

In which are described various Images, of Virtues, Vices, Affections, Human Passions, Arts, Disciplines, Humours, Elements, Celestial Bodies, Provinces of Italy, Rivers, All the Parts of the World, and other infinite subjects. Lately enlarged by the same author of .CC. [200] images, and enriched with many discourses full of varied erudition; with new engravings, and with copious indexes at the end.autore di .CC. [200] immagini, e arricchita di molti discorsi pieni di varia eruditione; con nuovi intagli, e con indici copiosi nel fine.

Author: RIPA Cesare

Dedicated to the most illustrious Lord Filippo Salviati. Siena, At the Heirs of Matteo Florimi, 1613.

Two parts in one vol. in-4°, 19th-century half-parchment binding with title on a tag and gold decorations on the spine. Pp. (12)-436 (but 400: pp. 305-340 are omitted from the numbering)-409-(1) + (2)-12 (error) placed between pp. 378-379 of the second part (that is, between the end of the text and the beginning of the Plate: thus, a complete work in all its parts). Woodcut vignette on the title page (with motto: Laetificat ubique), some engraved initials, head- and tailpieces, as well as 200 woodcuts in the text (collated: complete). Some light browning and water stains, a contact stain that has corroded the paper on p. 111/112 of the second part, but a more than good copy. Important edition of Ripa's magnum opus, very influential throughout Europe. Compared to the second edition of 1603, the first illustrated one, and to the pirated one of 1611 (which, however, did not displease the author), here there are almost 150 new allegories (for a total of 1214), and, in addition to other small changes, 48 new woodcut images are added compared to the 152 of the 1603 edition, this time all by Ripa. Ripa was not happy with the work of the Roman printers who were not accustomed to proofreading, and therefore this edition, begun in 1608 in Florence, is to be considered the first to have been directly supervised by the author.

The New Family Architecture

In-4to (cm. 20.2) of pp. (8), 366, (2 blank), with portrait of the author, 2 folded plates ft, numerous illustrations nt and friezes, all in woodcut.

Author: CAPRA ALESSANDRO

Publisher:  Bologna, Giacomo Monti, 1678

Each chapter has a separate title with an architectural frame. Half leather, 19th century, with gold title on the spine. Some leaves slightly reddened, good copy. First edition of this fundamental work dedicated to the practice and technique in architecture. Some chapters are dedicated to machines and their use.

Riccardi, I, 234. Fowler, 79. Piantanida: "A work therefore not so much of architecture, as of technique, hydraulics, agriculture and surveying". Olschki-Choix, 6260. Cicognara, 461. Berlin Kat. 2752. Sotheran, 677. Rare work.

The Roman Baths

Drawn by Andrea Palladio and republished with some observations by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi

Author:   PALLADIO, Andrea, e Ottavio BERTOTTI SCAMOZZI

Publisher:  The copy of Lord Co. of Burlington printed in London in 1732

Vicenza, Per Francesco Modena, 1785. FIRST EDITION. Large folio (48.5x35 cm). 35, [1] pp., frontispiece and 25 plates (17 double). Frontispiece text in Italian, the rest in French. Bound in attractive and elegant contemporary half-leather, six-string spine, with title on leather tab and gold lettering. A beautiful example with only some light browning on some plates. This work was published the same year in Italian, in French and in a bilingual French-Italian edition. The text describes the largest public baths built in Rome between the 1st and 4th centuries: the baths of Agrippa, Nero, “Vespasian” [i.e., those of Titus], “Titus” [i.e., those of Trajan], Caracalla, Diocletian and Constantine, and “some other drawings belonging to the baths”. The plates show plans, elevations, sections and details of columns. Rare.

History of Sculpture from Its Risorgimento in Italy to the Century of Canova

By Count Leopoldo Cicognara. To serve as a continuation of the works of Winckelmann and D'Agincourt.

Author: Leopoldo Cicognara

Publisher:  For the Giachetti brothers, 1823-25

Cicognara, History of Sculpture from Its Resurgence in Italy to the Century of Canova, Prato, Giachetti, 1823-25.

7 volumes in 8° large and an Atlas in folio with 185 plates. Contemporary half-parchment bindings (different from that of the atlas). A fundamental work for the history of modern art and Cicognara's major work, destined to continue the works of Winckelmann and D'Agincourt.

Research on the Beauties of Painting and the Merit of the Most Famous Painters

Full. 2

Author: Daniele Webb

Publisher: Parma, Royal Printing House, 1804

In 8°, original hardback, pp. (6)-180-2, (4)-161-3. Good copy with a large red stain on the second volume due to an error during the colouring of the edges.