First Latin edition of Dürer's treatise on human proportion

DÜRER, Albrecht.

De Symmetria partium in rectis formis humanorum corporum, Libri in Latinum conversi (per J. Camerarium).

Nürnberg: in aedib. viduae Durerianae, 1532.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002588

Folio (301 x 204 mm). 80 unnumbered leaves (last blank). Signatures: A-E⁶ F⁴ G-N⁶ O⁴. Title with 8-line verse to the reader above Dürer's woodcut monogram, gothic letter text in single and double columns, woodcuts throughout including 85 full-length figures of the human body. 18th-century vellum over pasteboards with gilt-lettered morocco spine label (extremities little rubbed, corners bumped, little worming to boards, head of spine and endpapers), marbled endpapers, blue-colored edges. Minor browning and spotting to text, title and a few other pages with light brown stains, erased stamp(?) on final leaf. Provenance: bookplate with monogram "VGL" to front pastedown and small stamp to title-page. A fine, unmarked and unrestored copy. ----

Adams D-1044; Fairfax Murray German Books 152; Bohatta 20. - First Latin edition by Camerarius of book I and II of the "Vier Bücher der menschlichen Proportion" (books III and IV were published in 1534 under the title "De varietate"). The woodcuts are derived from the German edition of 1528. Unlike his Italian contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci, who published nothing, Dürer lived and worked in the world of printing and engraving. Dürer's treatise on human proportion was the earliest of the three theoretical works written in his later years. Dürer began formulating mathematical rules for the proportions of the human form soon after his first trip to Venice in 1494-5. For his mathematical formulations he drew upon the works of antiquity as well as the Italian rediscoveries; as for his other theoretical works, his goal was to establish a scientific basis for aesthetics and to provide practical guidelines for draftsmanship. "The book is the synthesis of Dürer's solutions to his self-imposed formal problems; in it he sets forth his formal aesthetic... Dürer's aesthetic rules are based firmly in the laws of optics--indeed, he even designed special mechanical instruments to aid in the measurement of human form. He used the height of the human body as the basic unit of measurement..." (DSB).
Erste lateinische Ausgabe der 1528 deutsch erschienenen grundlegenden Proportionslehre der Renaissance. "De Symmetria" umfaßt Buch I u. II des deutschen Werkes. Die Illustrationen sind die der Original-Ausgabe. Ein von Bohatta vermuteter erster lateinischer Druck der "Symmetria" von 1528 existiert nicht.

On Hold