The index of a sixteenth-century architecture book

Abstract

The index to the first Italian edition of the architectural works of Vitruvius, printed in 1521, contains several notable features. The running heads alternate between the words Tabula and Index. Within the index there are rubrics for the first two letters of each alphabetic section (e.g. AL, AM). The locators point to the initial words of a section, as well as the leaf number. These section incipits are positioned after the main index headings; that is, as subheadings, preceded by paragraph markers. The index includes entries in the Greek alphabet, interfiled with Roman-alphabet entries as if they were transliterated. The index also functions as a glossary. Photographs illustrate these points.