The book was conceived around 1713.
Vitruvius Britannicus is primarily a "book of designs," that is, a book that documents extant buildings. This is opposed to pattern books, which provide builders templates with which to construct new buildings.
Vitruvius was conceived as a book of ideal designs, being a collection of works by various architects instead of an edition documenting a single architect. In his 1953 tome
Architecture in Britain 1530–1830, historian
Sir John Summerson provided a substantial account of the history of the books. In Sir John's telling,
Vitruvius Britannicus and a new translation by Nicholas Dubois of Palladio's ''
I quattro libri dell'architettura sought to initiate a new Palladian movement. The view of Vitruvius
as a polemic persisted for decades after Summerson published his history. However, more recent scholarship has challenged the notion of Vitruvius Britannicus'' as a manifesto and posited instead that it was a celebration of Palladianism. == List of books ==