The book “Palazzi di Roma de piu celebri architetti” is composed by architectural elevation plans accompanied by short paragraphs of text.
As the only text in the book are the captions below the illustrations, the layout is kept quite simple. A maximum of 2 – 3 lines of text accompanies the drawings. There is no visible hierarchy nor are there any headings, but the small signature of the author. Typed capitalised in a black serif font face at 22 Pts, only a scale and some stamps (red S, blue D) the overall appearance of the pages is quite minimalistic.
All drawings are of architectural character (elevations and a few floor plans). They do not contain any technical elements like measurements or construction details, but are quite descriptive and clear. They focus on building properties like the facade structure while not giving any information on the blacked out shapes of windows. They also do not include any informations on external structures or the built environment. Each room in the seven floor plans is shortly entitled with a use or function.
The Images presented are scattered throughout the book, leaving every second page blank to protect the precious prints. The book is supposed to be read in horizontal format – even though the illustrations only take up two thirds of the space in width and height.
They were not commented nor organised in a specific order, but glued in later and numbered by hand with a pencil.
The Images are the important part of the contained informations. They are accurate and clear and thereby suggest to be used as reference or for analytical studies of architecural elements. Expecially the use of window frames, pilasters or rustications can be obeserved as well as wall thicknesses and the scattering of rooms in the floor plans.