Advanced Search 
Detail
The First [-Fifth] Booke of Architecture.... Translated out of Italian into Dutch, and out of Dutch into English.
Author: Sebastiano Serlio (Italian, 1475–1554?)
Illustrated by: Sebastiano Serlio (Italian, 1475–1554?)
Publisher: Robert Peake (English, 1592?–1667)
Printer: Simon Stafford (English, 17th century)
Illustrated by: Sebastiano Serlio (Italian, 1475–1554?)
Publisher: Robert Peake (English, 1592?–1667)
Printer: Simon Stafford (English, 17th century)
1611
Place of Publication: London, England
Medium/Technique
Illustrated book with numerous woodcuts
Dimensions
Overall: 36.5 x 26.4 x 4 cm (14 3/8 x 10 3/8 x 1 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Samuel and Dorothy Glaser
Accession Number1979.651
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsIllustrated books
London: Simon Stafford for Robert Peake, 1611
Catalogue Raisonné
STC 22235; Fowler 331; Nat. Gallery, Millard Coll., v. 2, cat. 74
Description(London: Simon Stafford for Robert Peake, 1611) Folio; 206 leaves; contemporary gilt-stamped brown marbled calf.
Illustrations of architectural renderings, sections, and diagrams; ornamental designs, alphabets; decorative scrollwork and architectural titles; and three renderings of stage sets (Book Two, fols. 25r&v, 26r).
First edition of first English translation, in five books, each with a separate title page: First Book--Geometry, Second Book--Perspective, Third Book--Antiquities, Fourth Book--Masonry, and Fifth Book--Temples. Each book has separate foliation and register, but were printed together and most often, as here, bound together.
The woodcuts for the title-page borders and illustrations were first used in the Antwerp edition of 1553. They were later used in the 1606 edition in Dutch printed in Amsterdam by C. Claeszoon, who also printed them on sheets otherwise blank and shipped them to Basel, where letterpress in German was overprinted in 1608, and to London for the present edition. Thomas Snodham (died in 1625) printed only the bifolium following the first title page (STC addendum). [printing info from Huntington Library online catalogue]
Illustrations of architectural renderings, sections, and diagrams; ornamental designs, alphabets; decorative scrollwork and architectural titles; and three renderings of stage sets (Book Two, fols. 25r&v, 26r).
First edition of first English translation, in five books, each with a separate title page: First Book--Geometry, Second Book--Perspective, Third Book--Antiquities, Fourth Book--Masonry, and Fifth Book--Temples. Each book has separate foliation and register, but were printed together and most often, as here, bound together.
The woodcuts for the title-page borders and illustrations were first used in the Antwerp edition of 1553. They were later used in the 1606 edition in Dutch printed in Amsterdam by C. Claeszoon, who also printed them on sheets otherwise blank and shipped them to Basel, where letterpress in German was overprinted in 1608, and to London for the present edition. Thomas Snodham (died in 1625) printed only the bifolium following the first title page (STC addendum). [printing info from Huntington Library online catalogue]
ProvenanceAlgernon Capell, Second Earl of Essex, 1701 (1670-1710 [bookplate]); Samuel and Dorothy Glaser, Boston, by whom given to MFA, December 19. 1979.