The book “Quinque columnarum exacta descriptio” (The exact description of the five pillars) published in 1550 and written by Hans Blum presents not only five but seven models of columns: one Tuscan, one Doric, two ionic, two Corinthian and one composite. The book is devided in 7 chapters in which Hans Blum describes every column individually. Each chapter consists of two pages and has always the same layout. The descriptions of the columns are always next to a large drawing of the respective pillar. The pages are manageable and you can follow them well.
It was believed for a long time that the first edition of the book had been published in latin only but one discovered a german version printed the same year. The german version is called “Von den fünff Sülen Grundlicher bericht”.
Overall it has 26 pages and 18 images. The breadth of the book is 29,7 cm and the height is 42cm. This format is also known as a DIN A3 format.
