ALBERTI, Leon Battista

by Leon Battista Alberti

£19,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

.An excellent, unsophisticated copy, in original binding, of the first edition in French of this ..milestone of European architecture with nearly 100 exquisite woodcuts. A sumptuous ..edition, with a translation by Jean Martin, dedicated to Henri II and with dedicatory poems ..by Ronsard. About half of the woodcuts were based on those of the first ed. in Italian (1550), ..with the remainder inspired by the woodcuts in Serlio's Book III and the 1521 and 1548 eds ..of Vitruvius De Architectura . The initials were originally designed by Kerver for his 1546 ..ed. of Colonna s 'Hypnerotomachia'.. . ..Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) was an architect and polymath. His De Re Aedificatoria , ..based on Vitruvius De Architectura , was the first Renaissance book on architectural theory. The French translation follows the structure of the original, in 10 books, on designs ..(with observations on the five orders of architecture); materials (e.g., lime, bricks, plaster); ..construction (with considerations on the nature of the location, foundations, and how to work ..with different materials); public works (e.g., walls, bridges, drains); buildings for specific ..individuals (royal castles, fortresses, porticoes, town and country houses); beauty and ..ornaments (with aesthetic considerations and practical explanations, e.g., how to move or ..raise large stones); ornaments for holy, public, secular, and private buildings (e.g., churches, ..theatres); and building improvements (e.g., defects

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.