Vitruvius
M.Vitruvii Pollionis architectura textu ex recensione codicum emendato cum exercitationibus notisque novissimis Joannis Poleni et commentariis variorum additis nunc primum studiis Simonis Stratico.
Udine, “apud Fratres Mattiuzzi” 1825-30.
Full Description
Folio. 4 vols in 8 parts as issued. xxx + (2) + 311 + (3)pp, engraved portrait of Vitruvius, (17) woodcut plates lettered A-I, K-R ; (2) + 101 + (3) + 222pp, folding printed table, (10) engraved plates numbered I-V, VA, VI-IX and (2) woodcut plates lettered A-B ; (4) + 251 + (1)pp, (28) engraved plates numbered X-XXXV, XXXVA, XXXVB and (14) woodcut plates lettered A-I, L-P (complete thus, no plate K issued) ; (4) + 184pp, folding printed leaf, (26) engraved plates numbered XXXVI, XXXVIA, XXXVIB, XXXVII-XL, XL*, XLI, XLIC, XLII-LII, LII*, LII**, LIII-LVI (complete thus) ; (8) + 283 + (1)pp, (15) engraved plates numbered I-XV ; (4) + 286pp, (8) engraved plates numbered I-II, IIIA, IIIB, IV-VI ; (4) + 235 + (1)pp, (19) engraved plates numbered VII-XXV ; (6) + 159 + (1) + 144pp, 2 engraved plates numbered I* and II*. The set is in its original printed paper wrappers as issued (some of the covers slightly soiled, and the first six of the part volumes neatly rebacked with matching paper spines). Each of the part volumes has pasted to its inside front cover a printed slip issued by the publishers recording the number of printed leaves and pages price in the part concerned, and the consequent price. The set is generally in good, fresh, untrimmed condition, but it should be noted that the text and plates of vol.I, part II, have a faint old stain at upper right hand outer corner towards end of volume ; there is a similar faint old stain affecting the outer and lower margins of the text pages of vol.II, part II ; the plates of Vol.III, part I, have been neatly repaired for old worm damage in their lower margin, not affecting the engraved area of the plates concerned ; and the text and plates of Vol.4, part 1, have an old stain at their upper right hand outer corner. No ownership inscription but at one point in the stock of the Rappaport firm of booksellers in Rome (with their small printed labels), and more recently Joseph Rykwert’s set.
A massive and also vastly erudite edition of Vitruvius, assembling the totality of the information available in previous scholarly commentaries on Vitruvius, and adding to this previously unpublished notes by the scholar Giovanni Poleni. The editor of this edition, Simone Stratico (1733-1824), had succeeded Poleni as Professor of Mathematics and Navigation at the University of Padova, and had devoted over thirty years to bringing this edition to completion, although he was to die shortly before printing of it began. It represents the culmination of a continuous process of Vitruvian scholarship stretching back to the early Renaissance period, and it was unrivalled up to that point in time in its scale and ambition. This is the only set of this edition in its original printed wrappers that we have handled, and an interesting feature is that each of the parts contains an original printed slip detailing the number of printed leaves and plates in the part concerned, and recording the consequent selling price. BAL Cat 3505.