On the Art of Building in Ten Books

Alberti, Leon Battista; translated by Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach, Robert Tavernor

ISBN 10: 0262010992 / ISBN 13: 9780262010993

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge & London, 1988

About this Item

First modern translation into English of this classic of architectural theory, originally published in Latin in 1486; Alberti's attempt to supercede the authority of Vitruvius, whose ideas had been the core of architectural thought for over a millenium. Includes a contextual introduction by Rykwert, Alberti's chapters on planning & site selection ('Lineaments'), materials & construction, public works, ornamentation, & restoration, notes, bibliography, glossary. Hardcover in jacket, as pictured; the first edition (first printing), listing no later printings. Book shows light wear, minor fading; jacket, a little off-center, shows light rubbing, minor edgewear, discoloration to rear panel from being shelved next to a leatherbound book for quite a few years. Text clean; xxiii, [5], 442 pages; index, illustrations from the 1550 Italian edition of Bartoli. Size: Quarto. Seller Inventory # w0382

Bibliographic Details

Title: On the Art of Building in Ten Books

Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge & London

Publication Date: 1988

Binding: Hard Cover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Good

Edition: First American Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

The first major English translation of Alberti's fifteenth century treatise on the theory and practice of architecture. Alberti set out to replace Vitruvius' authority which had been undisputed for over a thousand years and frames a coherent account of the fragmented knowledge of antique architecture as it had survived through the dark and middle ages. His is the one book that established architecture as an intellectual and professional discipline rather than a craft and gave it a proper theoretical context. It provided a theoretical basis for the architecture of the Renaissance. Sixty-three illustrations. Glossary. Acidic paper. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Review:

This English edition surpasses the earlier one in a number of significant ways...It will no doubt soon find a place on all architectural reading lists, and deservedly so.

--Paul Davies, Art History