“Recueil de plusieurs machines, de nouvelle invention” by Claude Perrault is entirely written in centered paragraphs with big margins on both sides of the page. The font size of the whole book remains as a constant standard of probably 11 or 14 excluding headings, titles, the preface and the dedication. The Preface and the dedication are both written in italics and with a slightly bigger font. The paragraphs have no space between each other apart from the remaining space between the full stop and the next line of text. The book is divided in small chapters with each one of them explaining a different machine. There is a new heading for each machine explained in the book which is bigger, centered in the page and written in italics.
All Illustrations are together at the end of the book. The Illustrations that accompany the text are all architectural drawings of the different machines with detailed drawings of specific parts around them. Each Illustration occupies a full page and there is only one of them which is a fold out spread. All illustrations play a key role in this book because the text serves only as an explanation, of function and purpose, to the machines pictured in the Illustrations. None of the illustrations in the book have annotations, only letters and numbers which are referred to in the text. The different parts and elements of the machines are mentioned with capital letters in the text which then also appear on the respecting parts of the machines in the illustrations.
One could arguably then describe the text as a precise commentary to the Illustrations given the fact that almost half of the book consists of these. This book is then meant to be read constantly going to the back pages to look at the Illustrations when a reference to one of them appears in the text.