![VITRUVIUS Pollio, Marcus (c.70-15 B.C.). [De architectura libri decem]. Edited by Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1433-1515). Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 22 May 1511.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/CKS/2013_CKS_01160_0116_001(vitruvius_pollio_marcus_de_architectura_libri_decem_edited_by_fra_giov040419).jpg?w=1)
![VITRUVIUS Pollio, Marcus (c.70-15 B.C.). [De architectura libri decem]. Edited by Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1433-1515). Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 22 May 1511.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/CKS/2013_CKS_01160_0116_002(vitruvius_pollio_marcus_de_architectura_libri_decem_edited_by_fra_giov040452).jpg?w=1)
![VITRUVIUS Pollio, Marcus (c.70-15 B.C.). [De architectura libri decem]. Edited by Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1433-1515). Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 22 May 1511.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/CKS/2013_CKS_01160_0116_000(vitruvius_pollio_marcus_de_architectura_libri_decem_edited_by_fra_giov040351).jpg?w=1)
Details
VITRUVIUS Pollio, Marcus (c.70-15 B.C.). [De architectura libri decem]. Edited by Fra Giovanni Giocondo (1433-1515). Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 22 May 1511.
Median 2° (312 x 213mm). 123 leaves (of 124, without final blank). Roman type, occasional words in Greek, printed shoulder notes. Four-piece woodcut title-border with dolphins, woodcut orb and cross device, 7- & 9-line outline initials within a double frame, 136 woodcut illustrations and diagrams, most within a double frame. (Title and last leaf lightly soiled with small loss at foot, light dampstaining, occasionally more obtrusive.) Contemporary, probably Austrian, blindtooled calf over flexible pasteboard, sides with rosette rolls and stamps, Laubstab, floral and intertwined dotted 'Z' tools, later no. '10' on spine (rubbed and a little worn with small losses mostly at extremities). Provenance: Ferdinand Hoffman, Freiherr of Grevenstein, Gruenbuchel and Strechau (1540-1607; large bookplate engraved by Lucas Kilian after M. Göndelach). -- Castle Nikolsburg, Moravia, Princes Dietrichstein.
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION IN A STRICTLY CONTEMPORARY BINDING. The previous three editions contain diagrams only, making this the first to include non-schematic illustrations. The woodcuts depict ornament, plans, elevations, proportions of the human body, heating systems, machinery, a ship with an odometer, and siege machines, among other subjects. The title border with dolphins is itself 'one of the most influential pieces of ornamentation of the sixteenth century' (Mortimer). The 1511 edition is also the first to be edited by Fra Giocondo, a working architect, as well as an editor for the Aldine Press and an authority on classical inscriptions. Adams V-902; Fowler 393; Berlin Kat. 1798; Sander 7694; Millard Italian, 156; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 543; Cicognara 696; RIBA 3491; cf. PMM 26.
Median 2° (312 x 213mm). 123 leaves (of 124, without final blank). Roman type, occasional words in Greek, printed shoulder notes. Four-piece woodcut title-border with dolphins, woodcut orb and cross device, 7- & 9-line outline initials within a double frame, 136 woodcut illustrations and diagrams, most within a double frame. (Title and last leaf lightly soiled with small loss at foot, light dampstaining, occasionally more obtrusive.) Contemporary, probably Austrian, blindtooled calf over flexible pasteboard, sides with rosette rolls and stamps, Laubstab, floral and intertwined dotted 'Z' tools, later no. '10' on spine (rubbed and a little worn with small losses mostly at extremities). Provenance: Ferdinand Hoffman, Freiherr of Grevenstein, Gruenbuchel and Strechau (1540-1607; large bookplate engraved by Lucas Kilian after M. Göndelach). -- Castle Nikolsburg, Moravia, Princes Dietrichstein.
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION IN A STRICTLY CONTEMPORARY BINDING. The previous three editions contain diagrams only, making this the first to include non-schematic illustrations. The woodcuts depict ornament, plans, elevations, proportions of the human body, heating systems, machinery, a ship with an odometer, and siege machines, among other subjects. The title border with dolphins is itself 'one of the most influential pieces of ornamentation of the sixteenth century' (Mortimer). The 1511 edition is also the first to be edited by Fra Giocondo, a working architect, as well as an editor for the Aldine Press and an authority on classical inscriptions. Adams V-902; Fowler 393; Berlin Kat. 1798; Sander 7694; Millard Italian, 156; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 543; Cicognara 696; RIBA 3491; cf. PMM 26.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni