PALLADIO, Andrea.

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I quattro libri dell'architettura. Second edition of Palladio's architectural testament, a dramatically visual study of classical Roman designs paired with the author's own creations inspired by them. Unprecedented in the clarity and detail of its illustrations, the work is a celebration of harmony, symmetry, and proportion, which exerted a powerful influence on Western architecture until the end of the 18th century.The first edition was published in 1570. Millard notes that the successive Venetian printings (1581, 1601, and 1616) continued the visual high standards of the first. This second follows the 1570 text without revisions, with the plates and illustrations printed from the original plates, but different woodcut initials.The Palladian style is based on the application of classical principles laid forth by Vitruvius - which Palladio calls "my master and guide" - and Leon Battista Alberti. Though not the earliest book of its kind, I quattro libri was unique in its practical applicability. "Concise and clear in its language, effective in its communication of complex information through the coordination of plates and texts, the Quattro Libri represents the most effective illustrated architectural publication up to that time. The intelligence and clarity of the 'interface' which Palladio offers to his readers can be seen if one compares it to Serlio's architectural books which started to appear in 1537. Whereas Serlio does not inscribe dimensions on the plates but laboriou

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