VITRUVIO, Marco Pollione (c.80-70 B.C.- c.15 B.C.) - De architectura libri dece. Tradotto da Cesare Cesariano (c.1478-1543). Commento di Cesariano, Benedetto Giovio e Massimo Bono Mauro. As: Gottardo da Ponte, 1521.   A genuine copy with wide margins of the first vernacular translation of Vitruvius and "the most beautiful of all early editions". The Como Vitruvius is considered as one of the finest illustrated books of the Italian Renaissance.   The fine woodcuts, clearly influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, are largely the work of Cesariano himself, and the three plates showing plans and elevations of the Milanese Duomo are considered "the earliest authentic representations of Gothic architecture in a printed book" (Fowler). Cesariano’s important translation from Latin into Italian - its first printing in any vernacular language - was completed by Govio and Bono Mauro. Gottardo da Ponte was brought specially to Como to print this edition with the financial backing of Augustino Gallo and Aloisio Pirovano and in a print-run of 1300 copies. It was the only book printed by the Gotardo da Ponte press in Como, and the fourth ever published in this city.   The book also refers to the work of Bramante in Lombardy, the city of Como, the Villa Pliniana, the River Latte (which Leonardo studied for a long time) and other Milanese buildings and monuments, as well as artists, architects, writers and illustrious characters of the city and of the time. The Visconti Library in Pavia and the clock and tower of Venice are also mentioned. Finally, the Camera obscura is also dealt with although the invention has until now been attributed to G.B. Della Porta Napolitano who published it only in 1589 in his "Natural Magic"; Leonardo da Vinci, before Cesariano, described the Camera obscura in his manuscripts, but the news remained buried for a long time in his writings (Federico Frigerio. Il "Vitruvio" del Cesariano. Como, 1934, p. 34).   Folio (403 x 278mm). Large printer's device on title, woodcut initials, numerous full-page or smaller format woodcut illustrations, many fine initials on a black background, with the errata corrected in "Tabula de li errori in tutta l'opera vitruviana" (restoration to upper inner margin without loss, a few small sporadic wormholes and tiny tear without loss, larger wormtracks sometimes restored at lower margin of some leaves, some soiling and minimal stains, title and errata reinforced at inner margin, errata with other defects such as wormholes and restorations). Antique boards, author manuscripted on spine (modern endpapers, light staining and minor wear). Provenance: a few occasional marginal annotations.

Estimate € 12,000 - 18,000