Extraordinario libro di architettura di Sebastiano Serlio architetto del Re Chri is a thin book written in 16th century by Sebastiano Serlio. It is an addition to his heptology of books about ancient architecture. Serlio’s books are ordered as follows:
Geometry, perspective, examples of ancient architecture in rom, orders, layouts of temples, residential houses for all classes, and extraordinary circumstances in the architecture profession.
The book this summary is about, is not included, it is a extraordinary book (the title subtly hinds at this), solely focused on the layout of entrances. Drawings of those are the main part of its contents. It has a breath couple of pages of introduction in Italian followed ca. 100 pages of copperplates of renaissance portals. There is no table of content nor any conclusion to the pages and pages of images. The book just suddenly ends.
The book is in good shape, although there are some pages with water damage. It is likely covered in an varnish envelope.
The book stands is in the tradition of the renaissance, the rebirth of ancient knowledge and Serlio’s contributions to this efforts together with other great names such as Palladio, make him part of the great architecture writers of the 16th century.