PALLADIO, Andrea. I quattro libri dell’architettura. Venezia, Bartolomeo Carampello, 1601

folio, mm. 311x215; full vellum binding of the XIX century, covers with linear frame, gilt decoration in the middle, calf label on the spine with gilt title; 4 parts, each with its own Title page, pp. 67, [1], 78, [2], 46, [2], 133, [1]; Architectural Title pages with geometrical figures engraved on wood, Colophon with printer’s device on the last leaf, 221 woodcut illustrations in the text, at full or double page. Exemplary belonged to the Library Vinciana, whose bookplate is pasted on the back inside cover. Slight browning and occasional traces of use, good specimen.

Rare third edition beautifully illustrated. The illustrations, wood engraved by John and Christopher Chrieger, Christopher Coriolanus and others, are taken from the original drawings by Andrea Palladio and are the same as the first edition in 1570. The first book contains the fundamentals of "good architecture" based on Vitruvius and addresses the issue of building materials. The second illustrates many private houses built at the time, especially by the author, as well as ancient Greek and Roman homes. The third deals with the building up of the city on a regular and coordinated, with references to ancient models. The fourth is dedicated to the pagan temples. The core of the Treatise of Palladio is the recovery of antiquity to modern architecture to convey the character of grace, beauty and balance of the old one. His book exerted an enormous influence on European architecture least until the end of the eighteenth century, when it became the reference book for architects neoclassical. Fowler 214. The Lot is offered with a valid export licence.