A MONUMENT OF BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

THURAH, LAURIDS de.

Den Danske Vitruvius [The Danish Vitruvius]. Indeholder Grundtegninger, Opstalter, og Giennemsnitter af de mærkværdigste Bygninger i Kongeriget Dannemark, samt de Kongelige Tydske Provintzer, Tilligemed en kort Beskrivelse over hver Bygning i sær. Deelt udi Tvende Deele... Le Vitruve Danois contient les plans, les elevations et les profitls des principaux batimens du Roiaume de Dannemarc... Der Dänische Vitruvius. Enthält die Grundrisse, Aufrisse und Durchschnitte derer merkwürdigsten Gebäude Des Königreichs Dänemark... 2 Deele. (2 Vols.). [Text in Danish, French and German].

Kiøbenhavn (i.e. Copenhagen), Ernst Henrich Berling, 1746-49.

Folio (485 x 325 mm). Uniformly bound in two beautiful contemporary Cambridge-style mirror bindings with eight raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to front board. Spine with repairs. Wear to extremities, scratches to boards and spine, corners bumped and front hinge on both volumes weak. Edges of boards with some loss of leather. Ex-libris (Einar Christiansen, renowned Danish book collector) pasted on to pasted down front end-paper in both volumes. First 50 ff. (all text leaves) with dampstain to upper half of leaves. Otherwise internally nice and clean. 

Engraved frontispiece, (10), 96 pp. + 120 engraved plates pp; (2), 267 pp. + 161 engraved plates. Fully complete with the engraved frontispiece and all 281 full-page engraved plates (a few folded) of prospects, designs and drawings.

First edition of the only extensive Danish work of architecture, a Baroque masterpiece that is of great international importance.

No-one has done as much for the understanding of Danish architectural heritage and building construction as Lauritz de Thura (1706-1759), one of the most important Danish architects ever to have lived. His magnificent magnum opus is not only of national importance but is also internationally significant, as much of his inspiration came from his travels abroad. He is responsible for bringing the Baroque style to Denmark, where he let it flourish for longer than it did in other countries. He kept developing it, in spite of the fact that it was losing terrain to the new rococo style that so quickly became so popular; also therefore, his great work constitutes one of the most important sources of Baroque style.

In 1735, Thura received a royal grant that enabled him to travel around both Denmark and Europe to collect the necessary information for writing the most comprehensive work on architecture in Denmark. It took him more than a decade to gather all the information necessary for the monumental work, and finally, in 1746, he could publish the first part of the work, with the second following in 1749.

The work contains 281 drawings, measurements, designs and prospects of Danish buildings, including, of course, the royal castles.

Biblioteca Danica II, 602
Graesse VII, 153
Brunet V, 851
Katalog over Ejnar Christiansens efterladte bogsamling, no. 477 ("beautiful copy").

Order-nr.: 61516