Andreas Albrecht was born on the 26th of January 1586 in Nürnberg and died in 1628 in Hamburg. He was a German mathematician and engineer but also an architect and a drawer. Albrecht invented different useful instruments for architecture. In his book «Instrument zur Architektur: Damit die fünff Seülen auch aller Sorten Stück und Morsser, sowol allerley Bilder und der gleichen Sachen leicht und recht proportionirt zu vergrössern oder zu verkleinern seindt», which was written in 1622, he describes a one of them. The title reveals that he has found an instrument that is suitable for the five columns in every variation. He therefore may be generalizing a principle according to his instrument. Also, he already mentions in the title that his instrument is necessary to make architecture and also proportion it right.
His book is divided into two chapters: report of this instrument, use of this instrument. Albrecht explains how the instrument works and how it is thought to be used. These two subchapters are structured into text and illustration, where the text takes up more pages. The illustrations are more like graphics, which try to explain the instruments mentioned in a more visual way.
However, the book is very small and thin. It only contains about 35 pages in the size of A5. 8 of these pages blank, either because the color has disappeared, or Albrecht didn’t want to write them full. In addition, the paper itself is very thin and almost fragile. This shows that the author didn’t need many pages to explain his topic, therefore he may be very specific.