JOUSSE, Mathurin.

The first treatise devoted entirely to stereotomy Le secret d'architectvre de'covvrant fidelement les traits geometriqves, covppes, et derobemens necessaries dans les bastiments. enrichi d'un grand nombre de figures, adiouftees fur chaque discours pour l'explication d'iceux.

      A la Fleche, George Griveau 1642. . Folio. Contemporary limp vellum. 112 (misnumbered 113, but plate 29 was never printed) full-page woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text, 12 of which are folding. (8), 227 pp. . Very rare first and only edition of 'the first treatise devoted entirely to stereotomy' (Wiebenson), the practical application of geometry to stonecutting for architects and master masons. Jousse writes in the preface that there is nothing on the subject in the ancient architectural treatises, and among the Moderns, there were only Books 3 & 4 of De L'Orme's Architecture, which he complains are too abstract to be of practical use. By contrast, this work is composed of an extended series of exercises on the drawing of vaults, making it of some interest for strengths of material as well. Jousse made the first French translation of the perspective classic De artificialis perspectiva by Pelerin, and the woodcuts in Le Secret are reminiscent of that work's illustrations. Illustrated French architectural treatises of the 17th century usually hail from major printing centres (Paris or Lyons), not from provincial towns in the Loire region, and the work is, accordingly, of interest for the history of regional building techniques. Jousse, writer, architect, mason and locksmith, was connected with the college of Jesuits, which he might have built, in his native town La Fleche. NUC records Yale, Columbia and Boston Public, to which should be added the copy at the National Gallery, described in Millard. Good copy with illegible inscription of a convent on title page along with an inscription of Robert S. Roes. -(Soiled at edges of covers. Even toning and light browning throughout, along with some minor foxing; small wormhole on p. 3-4, without loss; a few leaves dog-eared). Berlin Kat . 2538; Wiebenson (ed.), Architectural theory and practice from Alberti to Ledoux , nr. III-C-6; Fowler 160; Millard I, 82.