Seülen-Buch, Oder Gründlicher Bericht Von den Fünf Ordnungen der Architectur-Kunst, wie solche von Marco Vitruvio, Jacobo Barrozio, Hanns Blumen, [et]c. und anern vornehmen berühmten Baumeistern seind zusammen getragen und in gewisse Abtheilungen verabfasset worden Georg Caspar Erasmus Alte Drucke, Handschriften

An ornamental pattern book for architects, sculptors or cabinetmakers; written by Georg-Caspar Erasmus, a cabinetmaker from Nuremberg. His preface is dated 6 December 1666; this edition was published in the late 1660s or early 1670s; probably one of the later editions. The copy contains the third engraved title and 38 numbered plates (no. 5-42) with copper engravings (five types of columns, architectural ornaments, furniture etc.); 6 plates are missing (two engraved titles and plates no. 1-4). Expanded with 12 unnumbered plates mounted on thicker paper (the same goes for the plate no. 5). However, some of the numbered plates are printed onto two physical plates; in other copies or editions, they were printed onto one large folding plate. In fact, there are 60 full-page plates in the book. All engravings were probably made by the Nuremberg engraver Wilhelm Pfann after templates by the author. The text part is complete. Fraktur typeface; pages are decorated with initials, lines and simple tailpieces. The physical volume also contains 3 full-page and 3 folding plates from a rare book titled "Accurate, höchst nuzlich, und nothwendige Architectur, oder: Ordnung deren fünff Saulen, erfunden von denen vier Welt berühmtesten Bau-Meistern Paladius, Scamozzi, Vignola, und Serlio" (Augsburg, Joh. Balthasar Probst, Haered., 1750). These plates are supplemented with a handwritten copy of the original title page; this book probably contains 20 plates in total. /// Leather binding; hardback, 52 pp. + 60 plates, title + 6 plates, 1 plate, 4° (20.5 x 32 cm), leather worn, backstrip with losses, spine cracked (but text block holds together), both endpapers are pasted over with various pictures and pieces of paper (from ca 1900), front free endpaper contains many notes written with pencil (from ca 1900), pages worn and slightly creased along edges, with fingerprints, a few ink stains and small repairs, plates worn and slightly creased along edges, ca 15 plates with water stain, ca 10 plates have pencil drawings on verso, several plates with a few bookworm traces (engravings rarely affected), second book's full-plage plates worn, with chips and tears, folding plates with a few tears, creases and pencil drawings/notes on verso, front free endpaper and several plates detached, back free endpaper missing, condition: fair Book Language/s: German