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 first edition, first issue of the first two books of Serlio's general treatise, devoted to geometry, perspective and theatrical scenery, and as such considered "the first published account of modern theatrical practice" (Hewitt, The Renaissance Stage, p. 21). As with the whole of the treatise... More
Scarce first edition of "the splendid culmination of the Renaissance tradition of Vitruvian studies" (Rosand ap. Wiebenson), containing Barbaro's first thoughts on perspective and an outline of his future work La practica della perspectiva (1568) in Book V.8 (see Rosand ap. Wiebenson III-B-7). This is the only edition to contain... 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
Very rare, with only one recorded copy in America (Harvard), the first complete edition (see below) of the sculptor and goldsmith Juan de Arfe y Villafañe’s (1535-1600) highly influential treatise on the practice of art and architectural theory extensively illustrated with more than 300 woodcuts. This work is important for being..... 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 3-sheet engraved view depicting the ancient Campidoglio in Rome, an understudied and somewhat mysterious piece first published by Antonio Salamanca (1479-1562) in the middle of the 16th-century and thereafter at times included as part of the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the famed composite atlas of graphic material related to antique... More
Rare first and only edition of this illustrated funeral book recording the ceremonies for Pope Paul V (1550-1621) held in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, with a fine suite of full-page engravings of ephemeral sculpture and architecture, including a series of 16 sculptures of Virtues by the great Gian Lorenzo... 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
Rare first edition, third issue, of an extensively illustrated German-language comparative treatment of the classical Orders by the Nuremberg architect-engineer Georg Andreas Böckler (c. 1617-87). In this practical treatise Böckler cites his indebtedness to the writings of Vitruvius, Archimedes, Palladio, Scamozzi, Vignola, Barbaro, Serlio and Hans Blum (Serlio’s principal interpreter..... 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
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
Conceived by the Danish-Islandic 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