VITRUVIUS. De Architectura.Venezia, Francesco De Franceschi, Giovanni Chrieghe, 1567

Folio; mm 220x300 Binding of the XVIIIth century in half calf and marbled boards, gilded titles and ornaments on the spine, marbled endpapers, sprayed yellow edges; pp. 20 nn., incl. Titlepage, 376; Printer’s device on titlepage, repeated at p. 376, large illustrated initials, more than 100 woodcuts within the text, some at full page. Really slight spots and browning. Ex-libris of noble family Riccati inside cover.

First Latin illustrated edition. The work, which contains commentary by Daniele Barbaro, is beautifully illustrated. The incisions in the text depict various subjects: architecture, split, sections, hydraulic machines, diagrams. Among them: a woodcut at full page with a superimposed moving part, pasted; Vitruvian Man; a view of Venice; an organ. Of particular interest is the fifth book, where the author speaks of the theater, music and of its correspondence with the architecture.

Cicognara 717; Adams V, 909; Mortimer 550; Fowler 409; Ebardt 72; Riccardi I, 61 4-5.

Nice specimen.