Roland FRÉART DE CHAMBRAY, Parallèle de l'architecture... Lot 71

Roland FRÉART DE CHAMBRAY, Parallèle de l'architecture antique et de la moderne Paris, Edme Martin, 1650. 1 vol. in-folio: 6 f. (portrait-frontispice, title, dedicatory epistle, privilege), p. 1-209, ill. of 40 full-page engraved plates, 1 f. of explanation of terms. Some spotting and marks of use, not serious. Bound in restored contemporary full brown calf, corners and spine rebound, parts of ornaments preserved on spine. First edition of this work, which compares the versions of the main Italian and French authors to the ancient models, with a preference for Palladio. This treatise is in fact the first work of comparative architecture. In his preface, the author clearly sides with the ancients, preferring Greek architecture (of which he had only a theoretical knowledge) to "corrupt" Roman architecture. In his eyes, the Corinthian order as implemented in Solomon's Temple is "the flower of architecture, the Order of Orders".