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An Abridgment of the Architecture of Vitruvius Containing a System of the Whole Works of that Author

Vitruvius Pollio

2009enGutenberg #27877Original source

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     | Transcriber's note:                                      |
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     | The combination "vv" which occurs at some places for     |
     | "w" and the word "Jonick" used sometimes for "Ionick"    |
     | has been kept to conserve the original appearance of the |
     | book. No changes have been made in the text except the   |
     | correction of obvious typos.                             |
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                  [Illustration: ARCHITECTVRE 1692]


                                 AN
                             ABRIDGMENT
                               OF THE
                            ARCHITECTURE
                                 OF
                              VITRUVIUS.

                              CONTAINING

                     A System of the whole WORKS
                            of that Author.

            Illustrated with divers Copper Plates, curiously
                 engraved; with a Table of Explanation,
                   To which is added in this Edition

                  The Etymology and Derivation of the
                      Terms used in _Architecture_.

           First done in _French_ by Monsr _Perrault_, of the
         Academy of _Paris_, and now _Englished_, with Additions.

           _LONDON_: Printed for _Abel Small_ and _T. Child_,
           at the _Unicorn_ in St. _Paul_'s Church-yard. 1692.



A

TABLE

OF THE

CHAPTERS.


The Introduction.

Article 1. _Of the great merits of_ Vitruvius, _and the
Excellencies of his Works_.                                 Page 1.

  Art. 2. _Of the method of the Works of_ Vitruvius, _with
    short Arguments of every Book_.                              9.

_A division of his whole Works into three parts, whereof 1.
treats of Building, 2. Gnomonical, 3. Mechanical. A second
division into three parts, 1. of Solidity, 2. of
Convenience, and 3. of Beauty. The Arguments of the Ten
Books._ 11, 12, &c.


THE FIRST PART.

Of the Architecture that is common to us
with the Ancients.

  _Chap. I._ Of Architecture in general.

  Art. 1. _Of the Original of Architecture_,                    17.

_The first occasion of Architecture; the Models of the
first_ _Architects_, 19. _The Inventers of the four Orders
of Architecture_, 20.

  Art. 2. _What Architecture is_,                               23.

_Definition of it; an Architect ought to have the knowledge
of eleven things_, viz. _Writing_, _Designing_, _Geometry_,
_Arithmetick_, _History_, 24. _Philosophy, moral and
natural_, 25. _Physick_, _Law_, _Astronomy_, and _Musick_.
26.

  Art. 3. _What the parts of Architecture are_,                 27.

_There are eight parts in Architecture_, viz. 1. _Solidity_,
27. 2. _Convenience_, 3. _Beauty_, 4. _Order_, 5.
_Disposition_, 28. 6. _Proportion_, 7. _Decorum_, 8.
_Oeconomy_, 32.


_Chap._ II. Of the Solidity of Buildings.

  Art. 1. _Of the choice of Materials_,                         33.

Vitruvius _speaks of five sorts of Materials_, 1. _Stone_,
33. 2. _Bricks_, 34. 3. _Wood, whereof divers sorts are
used, as Oak, Fir, Poplar, Alder_, 35. _Pine, Cypress,
Juniper, Cedar, Larch_, 36. _and Olive_; 4. _Lime_; 5. _Sand
and Gravel_, 37. _of which several sorts, Pit, River, and
Pozzalane_, 38.

  Art. 2. _Of the use of Materials_,                            39.

_Of the Preparation of Stone_, 39. _Of Wood_, 40. _Of
Bricks_, 41. _Lime and Sand_, 43.

  Art. 3. _Of the Foundation_,                                  45.

_In Foundations, to take care that the Earth be solid_, 45.
_Of the Masonry_, 46.

  Art. 4. _Of the Walls_,                                       47.

_Six sorts of Masonry_, 48, 49. _Precautions to be used in
binding the Walls, to strengthen them with Wood_, 50. _That
they be exact perpendicular_, 51. _to ease them of their own
weight, by Timber or Arches over doors and windows, and by
Butresses in the earth_, 53.

  Art. 5. _Of Flooring and Ceiling_,                            54.

_Of Flooring upon the Ground_, 54. _between Stories_, 55.
_Open to the Air as Terrass, &c._ 57. _the Roof_, 58.
_Cornice_, 59.

  Art. 6. _Of Plaistering_,                                     59.

_For great Walls, For Fresco_, 60. _for Partitions_, 61.
_For moist places_, 61.


  _Chap. III._ Of the Convenience of Fabricks.

  Art. 1. _Of convenient Scituation_,                           63.

_That a place be convenient, it ought to be fertile,
accessible, in a wholsom Air, not on low Ground or marshy_,
64. _How to know a wholsom Climate_, 65.

  Art. 2. _Of the Form and Scituation of the Building_,         65.

_The Streets and Houses of a City to be the most
advantagiously expos'd in respect to the Heavens and Wind_,
65, 66. 

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