Augmented edition of THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF VITRUVIUS (1511), the first attempt to establish a critical text of the only surviving ancient architectural treatise, one notoriously difficult for its technical matter and crabbed means of expression. It is notable that this was undertaken by a practicing architect, Fra Giovanni..... More
Second Durantino edition of the first illustrated edition of Vitruvius (original 1511) and the first attempt to establish a critical text of the only surviving ancient architectural treatise, notoriously difficult for its technical matter and crabbed means of expression. The first Durantino edition of 1524 was only the second edition..... More
A tall copy of the richly illustrated first edition, first issue, of the first two books of Sebastiano Serlio’s (1475-1554) famous architectural treatise. Although Serlio’s text would later appear in numerous versions, the woodcuts found here are unique to this 1545 edition from the Parisian press of Jehan Barbé, a...... More
Rare first illustrated edition – and fine copy – of Leon Battista Alberti’s (1404-72) L’Architettura (De re aedificatoria), the first modern architectural treatise, here in the influential translation of Cosimo Bartoli (1503-72), who was one of the most important proponents of the use of the vernacular in 16th-century technical publications..... More
A very attractive copy of the first edition of this rare work on perspective, which Updike calls “one of the handsomest volumes of its time.” It is through this work that Jean Cousin became known as the major theorist of artists' perspective in sixteenth-century France, and was credited with perfecting..... More
First edition of this potted version of Venetian history as seen through the portraits and other paintings hanging in or decorating some of the public rooms of the Palazzo Ducale after the fire of 1577, of art historical interest for the disposition of numerous famous Venetian paintings during the 16th..... More
Rare first and only edition, first issue, of the Vicenza architect Ottavio Revesi Bruti’s (c. 1585-1648) richly illustrated folio describing his new instrument for accurately constructing scale drawings of the architectural orders without reliance on laborious calculations, a boon both for practical architects eager to avoid difficult mathematics on the..... More
Rare first edition of this Mannerist suite of designs for triumphal arches and entrances, by a Florentine who had been invited to the French court by Marie de Medici, became royal engineer to Louis XIII, and built grottos and fountains on the grounds of St. Germain-en-Laye and Fontainebleau. He was..... More
Scarce edition of this important treatise on perspective by the most scientifically rigorous of 17th-century French theorists, of particular interest for its contention that “the illustrations to earlier treatises were often defective” (Millard), thus making it the first work on the subject to treat the problem of didactic illustration in..... More
Extremely rare early 18th-century Italian handbook offering advice to husbands, wives and their priests about how to maintain a happy marriage (or at least how to keep the peace). Il marito e la moglie is the work of the Jesuit Fulvio Fontana (1649-1723), who shaped the manual for the use..... More
First German-language edition and well-preserved copy of the Jesuit’s five-part book on the uses of “practical perspective.” First published in French in 1642 in response to Girard Desargues’ 1636 Manière universelle, in which Desargues advanced a new ‘double-scale’ method of calculating perspective, Dubreuil’s much longer work appeals to the “painters..... More
A fine pen-and-ink drawing and a very rare letterpress broadside, both relating to the baker’s trade in 18th-century Brussels. The drawing depicts St. Honoratus of Amiens (d. c. 600), a bishop saint who came to be especially venerated by bakers in France following the donation of land by the Parisian..... More
Rare first edition of this richly illustrated work on practical perspective. “This is one of the most beautiful comprehensive ‘monumental’ treatises written in the eighteenth century” (Descargues, Perspective, pp. 138-44). Kemp identifies Heineken’s text as one commonly used by 18th-century artists to master the technicalities of perspectival representation (The Science..... More
First edition – and fine copy – of Piranesi’s incomparable reconstruction of Rome’s Campus Martius, a work famed for its archaeological ambition, its graphic inventiveness, and as a sourcebook for the architectural imagination which continues to influence architectural theorists and practitioners today. “An exceptional personality, Piranesi transfigured his personal failure..... More
A handsomely bound copy in contemporary gilt calf of the rare first edition of an illustrated treatise on the two famous Marian icons housed at the church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan. The Notizie istoriche intorno alla miracolosa imagine at once stresses the miraculous nature of these..... More
Rare first and sole edition of this provincially published architectural treatise by an Alsatian architect seeking to promote his work in the wider cultural environment straddling the Franco-German language divide. The work was published in Trier five years after the completion of Antoine’s most prestigious project to date, the hunting..... More
An untrimmed and largely unopened copy of the first edition of this work on the biographies of well-known architects, very rare in this state: a work whose importance to the historiography of architecture equals that of Vasari for Renaissance artists, just as the author intended. After historical surveys of ancient..... More
Rare first and sole edition of this clear and systematic treatise on civil architecture, by Bergamo architect Nicolino de’ Calepio, of interest for the regional interpretation of classicizing forms. The treatise is divided into five parts, beginning with a discussion of building materials and other fundamentals such as taking measurements..... More
Unpublished, illustrated manuscript prospectus in large format for the renovation of one of the principal theaters in Pisa by the 26 year old Antonio Niccolini (1772-1850), the modern day Teatro Erenesto Rossi, an early project by this important Neo-Classical architect best known for his renovation of the Teatro San Carlo..... More
Rare first and only edition of a presentation work by the painter and essayist Pietro Fea da Casale (1771-1842) commemorating his designs for the ‘Scalone d’Onore’ in Turin’s Palazzo di Città (now known as the Palazzo Civico). The volume, which includes 4 full-page reproductive etchings executed by the artist himself..... More
First edition, first issue of this monumental work, here in a rare example with fine contemporary hand-colouring. An “indispensable supplement to Humboldt’s Voyage dans l’Amerique” (Sabin), Dupaix’s arduous work represents in many cases the first glimpses – and first published records - of untouched Mayan ruins emerging from the jungle..... More
French surveying manuscript with twenty delicate watercolor and wash illustrations, presenting solutions to a range of topographic problems. The detailed diagrams note the locations of the requisite graphometers and levels, and the accompanying text includes calculations and formulae. The book includes a range of practical exercises, such as measuring the..... More
A history of Moor Park, a Palladian house surrounded by a large park in Hertfordshire, England. The estate’s gardens were made famous in the seventeenth century by Sir William Temple, who described them in his Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, one of the key early modern texts on gardening. He..... More
Rare first edition of this deluxe, illustrated atlas folio published in 1939 as an advance prospectus showcasing the architecture of the Esposizione Universale di Roma, the world’s fair planned for 1942 to celebrate twenty years of Fascism under Benito Mussolini. Because of the outbreak of World War II the fair..... More
Conceived by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) as part of the Contemporary Editions series at the Museum of Modern Art, Your House is one of the more intriguing achievements in 21st-century book arts. The subject of the piece is Eliasson’s house in Denmark, its negative spaces rendered in..... More