Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

ABRIDGED EDITION OF VITRUVIUS`S TEN BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE

1647
Abrégé des dix livres d`architecture de Vitruve. À Paris, chez Jean-Baptiste Coignard, 1674 (Avec privilège du Roi). Size 12°, 17x10.4 cm, 224 numbered pp. + 11 folding pictorial plates, in French. Title page printed in black, period leather binding with gilt decoration and gilt lettering on the spine. On the pastedown, ex libris "FÜRST MORTIZ LICHTENSTEINISCE BIBLIOTHEK". Boards slightly damaged, interior in very good condition. Abrégé des dix livres d`architecture de Vitruve is a French abridged edition of the famous ancient treatise by the Roman architect Vitruvius (De architectura), the only surviving theoretical work on architecture from Roman antiquity. The publication was intended for a wider readership – architects, builders, engineers, and educated enthusiasts – and summarises the fundamental principles of classical architecture in a more accessible and practical form. The text discusses proportions of buildings, building materials, urbanism, hydraulic works, machines, and military technology. The edition is supplemented with copperplate illustrations and folding plates depicting architectural orders, ancient buildings, and technical devices (e.g. siege engines). French editions of Vitruvius from the 17th century played an important role in the dissemination of classicist architectural principles during the era of Louis XIV and belonged to the essential professional literature of architects and military engineers of the early modern period.