The book I tre ordini d’architettura dorico, jonico e corintio written 1744 by Giuseppe Maria Ercolani has a clear structure.
If we closely look at the layout of average sweeps of the book, we will mainly see a plain text with a huge heading on the one page and full-page-sized illustration on the other one. The percentage of the text in relation to the page is about 30%, that means the pages are to 70% empty what gives the content a fat frame what underlines the significance of the words. Font size equals 5 to 7 mm, is italic and is similar to the modern ‘Times New Romans’ font. The first letter of a paragraph is written in a larger font, the remaining letters of the first word are in capital letters. The first letters of a chapter are additionally decorated what gives the layout an overview of the different topics.
Ordinary the illustrations thematise the architrave, column as itself, capital and the relativity in the colonnade. The drawing is presented as a planar draught, made with a thin pen. On each page there is a unique emblem printed beyond the text.
The illustrations, even more schematics are mostly full-paged and look very similar to each other. You can find them more often than a text. In most cases they are presented on the right page.
Beyond the images there are little signs (e.g.: “abs”, ”Pro”, ”Paffo”, “se”, etc.) which are referenced in a list at the end of the book. Also, they are numbered so you can find them easily.
The images play an important role for the representation of the book. They occupy ¾ of the book content. There are likely pages with no text to come across than pure text.
The purpose of this book is an academic study of the distinction of the different column types with all the measurements, explanations and definitions of separate parts of the column.
Ivan Bagaturiya
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