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VIGNOLA, Giacomo Barozzi da.
Vignola: or, the Compleat Architect..
Shewing, in a plain and easie way, the rules of the five orders of architecture, viz. Tuscan, Dorick, Ionick, Corinthian and Composite. Whereby, any that can but read and understand English, may readily learn the proportions that all members in a building have one unto another. Set forth by Mr. James Barozzio of Vignola. Translated into English by Joseph Moxon. The fourth edition with additions.
Publisher: London: printed and sold by J. Moxon, 1694
Stock code: 47620
Price: £1,800 Currency Conversion
Fourth edition, second issue with cancel title (the first issue was dated 1692) and corrected plate numbering. "It was not an architectural preference so much as a patriotic desire to prove England equal to the other nations … that led the printer and map-maker Joseph Moxon to produce the first English edition of this book in 1655" (Harris), taking his text from the Dutch version of Pierre Le Muet's reduction, Règles des Cinq Ordres (1st ed, Paris 1631). In this edition, issued after his death in 1691, his son James added a portrait of his father and a dedication to Sir Christopher Wren. "For almost half a century Moxon's pocket Vignola had served as a practical manual for 'any that can but read and understand English" (op. cit.)
Octavo (159 × 97 mm). Contemporary panelled sheep, red morocco label, smooth spine gilt in compartments. Engraved frontispiece, extra engraved title, 32 engraved illustrations in the text, 19 engraved plates. Bookplate and armorial blindstamp of the earls of Macclesfield, Shirburn Castle. Some skilful repair to spine, slight loss to fore-edge margin of frontispiece and engraved title, some faint browning, a very good copy.
