Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura ..., Siena, [1635]
The Rule of Vignola is a kind of manual. Following the example of another famous architect and theoretician of the seventeenth century, Sebastiano Serlio, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-1573) declares to address "the mediocre ingegni", that is to an audience of non-scholarly technicians (from the dedication "To the readers" : et data tal facilità à questa parte d’Architettura altrimenti difficile ch’ogni mediocre ingegno, purche habbi alquanto di gusto dell’arte, potrà in un’occhiata sola senza gran fastidio di leggere comprendere il tutto, et opportunamente servirsene). It was the specifically didactc purpose and the clarity of exposition, that made the work very popular with more than 250 editions up to our time.
The first edition, in folio, undated, was probably released in 1562 in Rome, with 32 tables that became 37 in subsequent editions. Our specimen dates back to 1635.