The book „Livre d’architecture“ written by Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau is divided into two parts: the first half hosting the text and the second one the illustrations. With 49 pages of text and 52 pages of illustrations the ratio is approximately balanced.
The text is printed as one long column which is positioned off-centered towards the fold so the outside margin is twice as big as the inside one. It is only interrupted by the headings of each chapter. With a few exceptions there is written „Livre d’architecture[…]“ at the top of every left page and „[…] pour les champs.“ at the top of every right page. While the text is written in font size 25, all headings are in font size 40.
The font of the text is in an old serif style, as it was common in 16th and 17th century Europe. Therefore the „s“ when used within a word looks similar to the „f“ and the „u“ at the beginning of a word look like a „v“. The big headlines in the title and the dedication to the king and the reader are written in roman capitals and wherefore all „U“s look like „V“s.
The initial letter of each chapter stands out because it is about four times bigger and neatly decorated. Except the headings of the title and the dedications („au roy“ and „au lecteur“) all chapters are continuously inscribed with roman numerals from „I.“ to „XXXVIII.“ which serve as their headings.
Thanks to this consecutive numbering the reader can easily find the also numbered illustrations corresponding to the chapters. There are only illustrations on left pages so as not to make each other unreadable (the ink often shines through the paper).
For each chapter there are always at least two illustrations, mostly consisting of a perspective view of the entire building and a floor plan of the ground floor. Often there are also other illustrations like another floor plan or views. Depending on the size some chapters only have one page of illustrations while others more.
Because of the size of the book (400mm x 295mm x 35mm) and the organisation of text and illustration that force the reader to scroll back and forth through the hole book, it is better to be used for reference and academic study.