Manière de bien bastir pour toutes sortes de personnes. Contenant les moyens d'élever des bastimens de toutes grandeurs, d'y faire tous les ornemens, commoditez et détachemens qui s'y peuvent souhaiter [...]. Divisée en deux parties.

2 parts in 1 vol., folio: [engr. title]-12 pp.-75 pl.; [engr. title]-31 pl. (sm. wormtrack in blank lower margin of first 18 ff., some minor spotting or soiling, blank corner of pl. 20 of 2nd part rep.).

19th-c. quarter brown gilt shagreen, marbled paper on boards, gilt spine (joints sl. rubbed, head & tail def.), marbled endpapers. Good copy.

Rather rare edition (1st 1623) of this important handbook by the French architect, military engineer and writer P. Le Muet (1591-1669). The 1st part contains an engr. title and 75 numb. engr. pages (of which one double-page) showing floorplans and facades; the 2nd part an engr. title and 31 numb. engr. pages (of which 13 double-page and 9 folding) showing floorplans and facades of famous French buildings designed by Le Muet: Château de Pont-sur-Seine (Aube), de Tanlay (Yonne), de Chavigny (Indre-et-Loire), and Hôtel d'Avaux (Paris), the present-day Hôtel de Saint-Aignan, where the "Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme" is housed. For a century this work was the only handbook of its kind. Le Muet made models for townhouses for all classes of people. His intention was unique for that time, providing domestic architecture which focused on the well-being and comfort of its inhabitants, factors not associated with buildings before. His concerns were for a whole new approach towards housing, for example ensuring that individual rooms were in themselves comfortable, the dimensions and placement of doors and windows, and even the relation of their dimensions to furniture size and circulation.
Ref. Fowler 176 (note). - BnF. - This ed. not in STC French 1601-1700 (BL), Berlin Kat., Vinet, Cicognara.
Prov. Ownership entry erased on title. - Some notes in preface of 1st part.