Vitruvius, De architectura libri decem, Venice, 1567, modern limp vellum in period style

VITRUVIUS POLLIO, MARCUS. M. Vitruvii Pollionis De architectura libri decem, cum commentariis Danielis Barbari, electi patriarchae Aquileeiensis: multis aedificiorum, horologiorum, et machinarum descriptionibus, & figuris, unà cum indicibus copiosis, auctis & illustratis. Venice: Francesco de Franceschi & Johann Criegher, 1567

First Latin edition to contain the commentary of Daniele Barbaro, one of the most significant early editions of Vitruvius. Compared with the Italian text version printed in the same year by the same printers, this edition has more woodcut illustrations, one with a moveable flap, as well as an aerial view of Venice.

Barbaro dedicated this Latin edition to Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle.

Folio (297 x 208 mm). Roman and italic type, Greek type used on pages 359-362, 60 lines plus headline. Collation: a⁶ b⁴ A-GG⁶ HH⁸: 198 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials, woodcut diagrams and illustrations, with a full-page view of Venice on R6v. (Several leaves with corners or tears repaired or remargined, diagrams of theatres on pages 188 and 195 slightly shaved at outer margin).

Binding: Modern limp vellum gilt in period style (303 x 214 mm), blue edges from an earlier binding. (Staining to binding.)

Acquisition: Purchased in 1989 from Sokol Books, London. References: BAL RIBA 3498; Edit16 48319; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 550