I quattro libri dell'architettura
Palladio, Andrea
Venice. Domenico dei Franceschi. 1570
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First edition of one of the most influential and most successful of all architectural books, and the work which spread Palladio's fame throughout Europe.
Palladio spent many years working on the book; he was already collecting material in the 1540's, and he produced several versions of the text before establishing the form in which it was finally published.
Book one deals with general principles and with orders, book four with the remains of classical Rome as a source of inspiration and example. Book two constitutes a remarkably complete corpus of Palladio's own building practice, giving plans, elevations and details of many of his palaces and villas. Book three is devoted to planning and communications.
'Palladio's lasting influence on architectural style in many parts of the world was exercised less through his actual buildings than through his textbook ... Palladio left no immediate successors, his book exerted a powerful influence on contemporary architecture and classical ideals until the end of the eighteenth century'. (Printing and the Mind of Man).
[Fowler 212; Cicognara 594; Berlin 2592; PMM 92].
Palladio spent many years working on the book; he was already collecting material in the 1540's, and he produced several versions of the text before establishing the form in which it was finally published.
Book one deals with general principles and with orders, book four with the remains of classical Rome as a source of inspiration and example. Book two constitutes a remarkably complete corpus of Palladio's own building practice, giving plans, elevations and details of many of his palaces and villas. Book three is devoted to planning and communications.
'Palladio's lasting influence on architectural style in many parts of the world was exercised less through his actual buildings than through his textbook ... Palladio left no immediate successors, his book exerted a powerful influence on contemporary architecture and classical ideals until the end of the eighteenth century'. (Printing and the Mind of Man).
[Fowler 212; Cicognara 594; Berlin 2592; PMM 92].
[166 leaves]. Book I: (1) - 67, (68); Book II: (1) - 78 (misnumbered 66), blank leaf; Book III: (1) - 47, (48); Book IV: (1) - 128, (129 - 134). pp. 67, 78 (misnumbered 66), (1 blank leaf), 46, (1), 128, (6). 4 books in 1. Small folio. Elaborate woodcut border to title of each book, 158 full-page and 62 smaller woodcut illustrations. Full late eighteenth-century Italian calf, banded spine with gilt floral tools, marbled endpapers.
#39267
