The Perkins Architectural Rare Book Collection consists of about 3,000 titles housed in the Fisher Fine Arts Library. The Perkins Library supports study in the history and theory of architecture as the discipline has evolved over the past five hundred years.

The foundation of the collection is formed by the single great book of Vitruvius Pollio (ca. 90-20 B.C.E.) together with the works of five figures from the Renaissance period: Alberti, Scamozzi, Serlio, Vignola, and Palladio. Vitruvius, a Roman architect-engineer, produced a manuscript of ten "books" which summed up the architectural knowledge of his period. These books present the code of practice for a Roman architect of the time, commentary on the education of the architect and theoretical and practical principles of architecture. Vitruvius provided the first description of the orders of architecture (four, in his discussion: Ionic, Doric, Corinthian, Tuscan) but does not define them as a canonical group. The manuscript, rediscovered in the monastery library of St. Gall in 1414, appeared in print in 1486. Here is a crucial source for the architecture of antiquity. The Perkins Library holds several editions, abridgments, and translations of the work, including one of the first editions of the "pocket Vitruvius" (De architectura libri decem, 1522), reduced in size for handy reference; and the translation by the Venetian humanist Daniele Barbaro (I dieci libri dell'architettura, 1556), with its vigorous illustrations, including one of an odometer of the first century B.C.E..

The entire collection is available for use in the Fine Arts Library. Users consult Franklin and submit the request to Fine Arts Library staff.

For more information:
finearts@pobox.upenn.edu