Exercitationes vitruvianae hoc est commentarius criticus de Vitruvii architecti X librorum editionibus, necnon de eorundem editoribus, atque de aliis, qui Vitruvium quorumque modo explicarunt aut illustrarunt.

Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated with woodcut printers mark on title and sectorial titles, 3 engraved head-pieces, 3 engraved initials, 1 full-page engraving of a theatre and another engraved illustration in text (all by A. Visentini, though only one signed); 3 series of woodcuts numbered 1-33, 1-3 and 1-21; plus 6 full-page woodcuts. Folio. Original limp boards. Padua, typis Seminarii, apud Joannem Manfré, 1739 (sectional title 1741). First Edition. Poleni was known especially as a prominent physicist. His scientific activities were paralleled by archaeological and architectural researches which made him so famous that the Pope called him to Rome to examine Saint Peters dome and to propose means to prevent its further movement. This work had been devised in 9 parts, but only the 3 gathered here were ever published. The first part is the first Vitruvian bibliography reedited with scientific criteria. The second part contains a letter of Morgagni on different passages of medical interest comprised in the works of Vitruvius, the biography of Vitruvius written by Bernardino Baldi, a XVII century historian of mathematics born in Urbino, and an anonymous compendium of Vitruvian teachings with the annotations of Poleni. The third part contains the commentaries on Vitruvius written by different prominent mathematicians and architects. This section comprises the second printing of Baldis Scamilli Impares Vitruviani. Three of the sections of this last part deal with theatre architecture, of great interest to Poleni, who had been the author of projects for the restoration of the Palladian Teatro Olimpico in Venice. In the Exercitationes, Poleni produced the first scientific study of an architectural text produced after the great Renaissance season. Adopting a philological method he provides in the first section a thorough study of the manuscript tradition (recensio), followed by a critical analysis of the text to determine authenticity (examinatio), correcting the Vitruvian text where he considers it manifestly in error. This work can also be interpreted as an examination of the publishing history of Vitruvius The Exercitationes is more elegant than the Frontinus edition as a result of the decorations by the architect Antonio Visentini. . . . His contribution to the development of the science of architecture placed Poleni at the center of the great debate of the middle of the century regarding the restoration of the dome of Saint Peter in Rome. Poleni . . . has been called the father of the architectural restoration (Millard). Ex-libris (end of the XIX century) of Antonia Suardi Pozzi. An excellent copy, completely untrimmed and partly unopened. Scarce. $4500.00