Customer Reviews

The Five Books of Architecture

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This English text of Serlio was made from a Dutch translation of Serlio's original Italian - it is a translation of a translation! The work also includes woodcuts borrowed from (amongst others) Albrecht Durer and never used by Serlio. All those interested in what Serlio really wrote and drew should consult the modern translation with original woodcuts published by Yale UP in 1996.

This translation is in anacronistic old English, published in gothic script which is difficult to read. It has many ommissions from Serlio's original text, and quite a few ideosyncratic additions. It has no commentary, index or introduction. Whilst it is of importance for historians of the early modern period in England, students of Serlio who want to read him translated accurately should buy the recently published (1996) excellent English translation published by Yale University Press.

This book is full of orthographic views of Renaissance architecture, which comes in handy when modeling in your favorite 3D program. The only downside is the font used for the descriptions. Too small, really blurry, and written in old english.