Description
Extraordinary facsimile edition made in 2019 of the Villard de Honnecourt Manuscript, known as the Book of Cathedrals, one of the most important documents of the thirteenth century, and the only work by Villard de Honnecourt consisting of a notebook of sixty-six sheets, whose original manuscript is preserved in the National Library of France. A codex that is closely related to the construction of European cathedrals in the 13th century.
Encyclopedic in nature, it stands out for its beauty as it is the result of a collection of drawings by an outstanding artist. In total, 66 unforgettable pages full of illustrations spanning numerous categories: stonework, architecture, carpentry, geometry, zoology and mechanical devices of the time related to the fascinating and mysterious art of cathedral construction.
The work has around 250 superb drawings on parchment, which would be dated in the first quarter of the 13th century, around 1221, and correspond to the cathedrals and places that he visited in Switzerland, France and Hungary such as Chartres, Lausanne or Reims.
For the editor, “we are talking about a resurrection of the perennial mystery that cathedrals constitute” and about a book dating from the year the Burgos Cathedral was built. “In the same year in which the Burgos Cathedral began to be built, the author was already making notes of those other cathedrals that served as a model and supply of guilds for the Burgos temple that is now 800 years old”.
Considered by some to be the great forerunner of Leonardo Da Vinci, very little is known about him since there is no surviving writing of his authorship. What is known is Villard’s obsession with the engineering devices that would later make Da Vinci so famous more than two centuries later, and which were used in the construction of the most famous Gothic temples in Europe.
The Villard de Honnecourt is, therefore, conceived as a beautiful architectural teaching manual where the technical procedures used in the Middle Ages appear. A compilation of technical drawings referring to construction procedures with a nod to the construction of Gothic temples that are now eight centuries old.
Facsimile bound in black leather, imitating in all its details Honnecourt’s notebook, format 18 x 24.5 cm. 66 pages on thick aged parchment paper. Presented in an elegant and atypical black leather pouch, including its strap, to carry the notebook like a researcher on his travels.
The complementary study book that usually accompanies these great works has not yet been published by the publisher; as soon as it is available it will be sent to you without any additional surcharge. However, we and EXCLUSIVELY, we give you two books with profuse studies on this curious and wonderful medieval work:
“Villard de Honnecourt, cuaderno de campo s. XIII”, ISBN 9788446017769. Hardcover with illustrated dust jacket. Format 17.8 x 24.8 cm. 144 pages. Includes study text in Spanish and reproduction of the original notebook.
“Villard de Honnecourt, Architecte du XIII siècle” by Jean Wirth, ISBN 9782600105583, in an exclusive leather binding, spine ribs, gilt title. Format 15.8 x 21.5 cm. 396 pages on Torreon watermark laid paper, guide tape. Texts in French.
Exemplary available and in perfect condition.
Shipping costs on account of the buyer, according to order and destination. Consult us without obligation (indicating the reference of the article) any doubt.
