DÜRER. Della simmetria de i corpi humani. Folio. 330x225mm. Ancient vellum binding with handwritten title on the spine. [6], 143 [but 141], [1] leaves. Numbering errors, leaves 74 and 101 skipped. Printer's device on the title page and at the end, a fully illustrated volume with almost always full-page illustrations. Leaves M4, Q4 and Q5 are double leaves added to the quires: leaf Q4 printed on the recto and verso; leaves M4 and Q5 printed on the recto only. Some foxing and slight signs of wear, small lack on the fold of two folded leaves. A good copy with wide margins. First Italian edition of the first book dedicated to the proportions of the human body. Illustrated book with many illustrations of the human figure. Durer intends to demonstrate that the proportions and harmony of the human body depend on precise geometric rules, and are therefore reproducible through drawing. He then comes to theorize beauty itself as linked to mathematical proportions. Dürer, at the conclusion of numerous studies carried out on different types of individuals, accompanied his work with many illustrations of the human figure, the same, moreover, also reported in this first Italian edition. Garrison-Morton: “Written, designed, and illustrated by Dürer, this work is notable for its extraordinary series of anthropometrical woodcuts. The first two books deal with the proper proportions of the human form ; the third changes the proportions according to mathematical rules, giving examples of extremely fat and thin figures, while the last book depicts the human figure in motion and treats of foreshortenings. Dürer's work is the first attempt to apply anthropometry to aesthetics. The woodcuts represent the first attempt to employ cross-hatching to depict shades and shadows in wood engraving.” The Italian translation from the Latin version is by G.P. Gallucci, who adds a fifth book «which deals with which ways painters and sculptors can show the diversity of the nature of men and women [...]».