Lot 66: VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus (70-23BC). Architettura , translated by Giovanni Battista Caporali (1475-c. 1555). Perugia: Conte Giano Bigazzini, 1 April 1536.

VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus (70-23BC). Architettura , translated by Giovanni Battista Caporali (1475-c. 1555). Perugia: Conte Giano Bigazzini, 1 April 1536. 2° (286 x 205mm). Roman and Greek types. Woodcut architectural title-page incorporating the portrait and coat of arms of Caporali in the border, woodcut portrait of Bigazzini (the dedicatee) on dedication. 81 woodcuts, 7 full-page. One large woodcut initial with a perspective architectural view, other woodcut initials from 2 sets. (Variable, generally light browning and spotting, occasional light marking, some very light staining, title marked and with small worm-hole, repaired on margin, tipped-in and possibly supplied, R1-2 with neatly-repaired tears, R2 tipped-in.) 19th-/early 20th-century colour-printed paper over semi-flexible cloth covers (lightly rubbed at extremities). Provenance : Antonii Toulli (inscription on title) -- Fran[-] Cattelliani (inscription on title) -- purchase note dated June 1615 and additional pen-strokes to portrait and text on title. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION OF CAPORALI'S TRANSLATION OF VITRUVIUS, the second translation of Vitruvius into Italian, and the fourth edition of Vitruvius in Italian. The text and illustrations of Caporali's translation of the first five books follow the structure of the first edition of Cesare Cesariano's translation published in Como in 1521 (the first translation of Vitruvius into both Italian and a living language). The artist Caporali was a follower of Perugino, and undertook a number of ecclesiastical commissions for frescos in Rome and Perugia, in addition to architectural commissions (including a villa near Cortona, 'Il Palazzone', for Cardinal Silvio Passerini), and he also trained the architect Galeazzo Alessi. Caporali's translation was printed at Bigazzini's private press in Perugia with the collaboration of Caporali himself, Vittorio Muzio, the typesetter, and Jean de Né, the typographer; it the only work known to have been printed by Bigazzini. Cicognara 706; Brunet V, 1330; Harvard Italian 546; Sander 7700.

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