The book is titled „collection of all books about architecture (written) by Sebastiano Serlio“. This already points to an unclear meaning with regards to „all“. Are they all the books that Serlio wrote or are they all the books that one needs to consider/know?
The book treats a range of topics with regards to architecture and prospective drawing, geometry, and reference buildings. It contains a large amount of detailed drawings explaining how to draw for example arches and has a large collection of different elements for example cornices and columns of various buildings. Each drawing is accompanied by text. In that regard the book is very appealing as reference material, regardless of the context.
The book is rather thick and dense, especially for this early time, which is a reflection of the encyclopedic nature it tries to achieve. Sebastian Serlio is the author of the original books which were compiled by Scamozzi. As an architect and architectural historian, Serlio he has written several books on architecture. He describes and explains how something can be built or designed. He is familiar with various styles and even wrote a book in French during a stint in France. It’s a very beautiful book. The cover is very colorful and a beautiful font was used for the texts.