Architectura et Perspectiva etlicher Festungen, Stätt, Kirchen, Schlösser und Häuser, wie die auffs stärckeste, zierlichste und bequemste können gebawet oder auffgerichtet werden

1610. BRUNN, Lucas. Praxis Perspectivae Das ist: Von Verzeichnungen ein außführlicher Bericht darinnen das jenige was die Scenographi erfordert begrieffen und in welchen allerley dinge uff allerley Stände in ein Perspectivischen auffzug zu bringen gelehret auch das was wundersam hierbey sich begeben kan erkläret wird. 12, 60 pp., illustrated with 26 full page engraved plates. Nürmberg: Halbmeyer Leipzig Kober, 1615. BOUND WITH: PERRET, Jacques. Architectura et Perspectiva etlicher Festungen, Stätt, Kirchen, Schlösser und Häuser, wie die auffs stärckeste, zierlichste und bequemste können gebawet oder auffgerichtet werden. Erstlich von einem Saphoischen vom Adel Jacob Perret, In Französischer Sprach zu Pariß in Druck verfertiget. Jetzo aber Teutscher Nation zu gut verteutschet, mit schönen Kupferstücken gezieret und an Tag gegeben und verlegt durch Johan-Theodor de Bry. 688 pp., illustrated with 27 engraved plates, of which 21 are double page. Oppenheim: Hieronymus Galler, 1613. BOUND WITH: SOLIS, Virgil. Buchlin von alten Gebaueden. Contents includes engraved title page and 12 etchings of architectural ruins in reverse after prints by Androuet Du Cerceau after Léonard Thiry. Cologne: Jan Büchsenmacher, ca. 1550-1562. BOUND WITH: ZIMMERMANN, Wilhelm Peter. Beschreibung vnd kurtze Radierte entwerffung der Fürstlichen Hochzeit, So Der Durchleuchtig, vnd Hochgeborn Fürst ... Wolffgang Wilhelm, Pfaltzgraff bey Rhein, ... Mit Der ... Fürstin Fraw Magdalena, Pfaltzgräfin bey Rhein ... Zu München, sechzehenhundert und dreyzehenden Jahr/ den zwölfften Novembris Celebriert und gehalten. 8 pp. text and 6 double-page etched plates. Augspurg: Wilhelm Peter Zimmermann, 1614. Small folio, 305 x 195 mm., bound in contemporary mottled calf, tan morocco spine label, spine compartments gilt, preserved in a half morocco folding box. An early seventeenth century sammelband of works on perspective and architecture including a first edition of a comprehensive work on perspective by Lucas Brunn (d. 1640). In the tradition of Albrecht Dürer, Wentzel Jamnitzer, Levinus Hulsius and particularly Hans Lencker the Elder, Brunn unfolds a system for measuring and accurately representing lines, areas and volumes in various perspectival positions, and discusses an instrument of his own invention designed to achieve this. Included amongst the plates are two diagrams of Brunn's perspectival instrument and a great number of images using blocked Roman letterforms as models. Perhaps the most spectacular image is the elongated "anamorphic" human skull in the manner of Holbein's 1533 painting of "The French Ambassadors" which appears on plate 24. The sammelband also includes a beautifully printed De Bry edition of Jacques Perret's Architectura et Perspectiva. A remarkable book, which is comprised of plates and text dealing with imaginary fortifications and city plans. The most extraordinary aspect of the engravings centers on the surreal quality of the fortifications and the visionary designs of the buildings, including one thirteen-story edifice, complete with rooftop sculptures, urns and fountains, which prefigures the modern urban skyscraper. The final book (the fête book) lacks the title, dedication and plates 6-11. Binding a bit rubbed, a few marginal light stains, overall an appealing copy. For Perret, OCLC lists only the Art Institute of Chicago, Universities of Minnesota and Pennsylvania in the U.S., and for Brunn it lists 9 copies. Only NYPL for the fête book. There are no listings in OCLC for the Solis, although there is a set at the British Museum, V&A and Metropolitan Museum. PROVENANCE: Thomas Vroom with his bookplate on the front pastedown.