Description
VITRUVE (Marcus Pollio Vitruvius) / MARTIN (Jean) Architecture ou Art de bien bastir (...) mis de Latin en Françoys, par Ian Martin. Paris, veuve et héritiers de Jean Barbé pour Jacques Gazeau, 1547. 1 vol. in-folio, marbled fawn basane, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons, blackhead morocco title page, red edges. 18th-century binding, spine faded, upper jaw split, corners dull. Title with woodcut portrait, 160 woodcut figures in the text, many full-page, (4) ff, 155 ff, (1) blank ff, (23) ff. A4 [A-Z]6 [Aa-Zz]6 [A-D]6. Title leaf partly detached from binding, angular wetness on ff. 11 to 18, some freckling. The last blank leaf (D6) is missing. First edition of the first complete French translation of Vitruvius. The translation is the work of Jean Martin (translator of Le Songe de Poliphile and Serlio's architectural books in 1545), revised by the French sculptor Jean Gouujon. One of the finest illustrated books of the French Renaissance. The edition, designed by Jean Barbé, was inspired by Italian editions of Vitruvius, notably those of 1511 and 1521, from which it borrows some illustrations. The three engravings depicting theatrical scenes are taken from those illustrating Serlio's second book of architecture (1545). But the bulk of the engravings are by Jean Goujon, who also wrote a five-page afterword, considered to be the earliest original architectural text written directly in French. Renouard III, n°62; Brun, 313; Mortimer II, n°549; Cicognara, 710; Fowler, n°403.
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VITRUVE (Marcus Pollio Vitruvius) / MARTIN (Jean) Architecture ou Art de bien bastir (...) mis de Latin en Françoys, par Ian Martin. Paris, veuve et héritiers de Jean Barbé pour Jacques Gazeau, 1547. 1 vol. in-folio, marbled fawn basane, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons, blackhead morocco title page, red edges. 18th-century binding, spine faded, upper jaw split, corners dull. Title with woodcut portrait, 160 woodcut figures in the text, many full-page, (4) ff, 155 ff, (1) blank ff, (23) ff. A4 [A-Z]6 [Aa-Zz]6 [A-D]6. Title leaf partly detached from binding, angular wetness on ff. 11 to 18, some freckling. The last blank leaf (D6) is missing. First edition of the first complete French translation of Vitruvius. The translation is the work of Jean Martin (translator of Le Songe de Poliphile and Serlio's architectural books in 1545), revised by the French sculptor Jean Gouujon. One of the finest illustrated books of the French Renaissance. The edition, designed by Jean Barbé, was inspired by Italian editions of Vitruvius, notably those of 1511 and 1521, from which it borrows some illustrations. The three engravings depicting theatrical scenes are taken from those illustrating Serlio's second book of architecture (1545). But the bulk of the engravings are by Jean Goujon, who also wrote a five-page afterword, considered to be the earliest original architectural text written directly in French. Renouard III, n°62; Brun, 313; Mortimer II, n°549; Cicognara, 710; Fowler, n°403.
