In folio (mm 325x220); pp. 112, with 37 full-page architectural plates copper-engraved, allegorical antiporta with profile of Sanmicheli within oval as some intaglio vignettes with friezes, 4 portraits of architects (Alberti, Palladio, Scamozzi, Barozzi) within medallion, while Vitruvius and Serlio in the oval are missing. Intaglio vignette on title page depicting a winged putto taking measurements with a compass. Historiated capolettera. Full coeval vellum. Rare original edition of this work on architecture composed by Alessandro Pompei (1705-1772), a celebrated Veronese architect faithful to Vitruvian canons and an admirer of Sanmicheli. In it he presents the history of this art from its origins to the Renaissance and the lives of a number of Italian architects; he also deals there with orders, proportions and abuses of elements in architecture. The work is by far the first monograph on Sanmicheli, who is considered the first to introduce classical Greek architecture to Italy. Indeed, he had the opportunity to visit the islands of Cyprus and Crete, becoming the only 16th-century architect to have seen the monuments of Hellenic antiquity in person. Also of particular interest is the comparison, also graphically thanks to the illustrations, of the use of various styles by the major architects of all times. The plates are drawn by Pompei himself on an invention by Gaudenzio Bellini. The antiporta and other engravings are by Antonio Balestra. There is a malnumerazine on p. 104, plat XXXVII is reversed with XXXIV; on p. 67, plat XVII due to a printing error is repeated in place of plat XX, which was not impressed. Good specimen on laid paper with water marks. Presents halo in lower marg. that persists for the entire tome. Slightly loose at end. Berlin Katalog, 2631; Cicognara, 647: “Very judicious and useful work for architects, who find the most interesting comparisons brought together”; Comolli, IV, pp. 227-235: “The whole work is adorned with convenient erudition”; Fowler, 286; The Great Theater of Factories, 63; Militia, II, p. 347; Millard, Italian, pp. 325-28; Wiebenson, III-A-28.