Trattato di architetturadi Francesco di Giorgio Martini

Probably written at the court of Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino about 1480, the Treatise by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501), the famous painter, sculptor and architect from Siena, is one of the milestones of the architectural theory of the Italian Renaissance.

      Along its twofold features -civil and military architecture- this work, which is reproduced for the first time in facsimile, is an       organic collection of notes and drawings presented thematically, which so much appealed to Leonardo. Not by chance the       precious manuscript, known as Codex Ashburnham 361, now preserved in the Laurentian Library (no. 282), belonged to       Leonardo, quite possibly given to him by Francesco di Giorgio himself in Milan in 1490.

      This is in fact the only book known to have come down to us direct from Leonardo's own library, and as such it is of course       an extraordinary bibliographical unicum in that it contains Leonardo's own marginal notes and sketches made about 1506.

      Fifteen years after the first edition (preceded by a preface by Luigi Firpo and including an introduction, a transcription and       notes by Pietro C. Marani) the Treatise is again being published together with the four pages recently discovered and       preserved in the Biblioteca Municipale of Reggio Emilia.

      The 'Fogli Reggiani', illustrated with 44 ink drawings, contain the chapter on ancient and modern military machines, which       follows the final paragraph of the Ashburnham Codex 361 without a break. The volume in which they are published       contains an introductory text, the critical transcription and notes by Massimo Mussini.

      A slip-case (268 x 395 x 70 mm) holds the three hand-bound volumes with gold stamping: the facsimile of the codex; the       volume containing the transcription and comments (XXVIII-136 pages); and the volume containing the facsimile       reproduction of the 4 'Fogli Reggiani' with relative transcription, comprising 40 pages in all.