VITRUVIUS/Perrault

Les Dix Livres d'Architectura

Paris: Coignard, 1684

Large folio (429 x 286 mm).

Contemporary calf, gilt spine.

The Ten Books on Architecture of Marcus Vitruvius (ca 80 BC - 15 AD) is the only surviving treatise on architecture from classical antiquity and has served for centuries as the preeminent guide to the design principles of Greek and Roman architecture. The present translation into French by Claude Perrault, with his commentary, is of particular importance, as Perrault designed the celebrated neoclassical eastern facade of the Louvre in 1665 according to Vitruvian principles.

Four caryatids, from Dix Livres d'Architectura by Marcus Vitruvius, translated by Claude Perrault