Durer, Albrecht.

UNDERWEYSUNG DER MESSUNG, MIT DEM ZIRCKEL VON RICHTSCHEYT IN LINIEN EBNEN UNND GANTZEN CORPOREN

      (Nuremberg: Hieronymus Andreas Formschneider, 1525) Rare First Edition. Profusely illustrated withwoodcut designs on almost every page, comprising geometrical diagrams, architectural designs, and alphabetic characters; two large woodcuts (one signed in the block by Durer) of artists using apparatus for drawing in perspective; pasted-on cancel diagrams on C5v and K1r; pasted-on folding slips on P4v and Q1r extending the diagrams. Folio, well bound in 19th Century half morocco over marbled boards, the edges of the text block with handsome gold chiseling on a red background A very handsome copy, very pleasing and very well preserved with some innocuous light evidence of antique staining to a few leaves. RARE FIRST EDITION AND DURER'S THEORETIC MASTERWORK, this treatise on mensuration formulates a comprehensive and mathematically based method for the realistic depiction of objects in spaces. One of the earliest printed works on perspective, the Underweysung is the first presentation of the subject in German. The principles articulated in the Underweysung formed the foundation of aesthetic dogma for over 300 years.