Villard de Honnecourt
An Introductory Bibliography

by Carl F. Barnes, Jr.
The bibliography on various aspects of Villard de Honnecourt's portfolio of drawings - and interpretation of them - is enormous. The principal bibliography to date, now being revised for the internet, is Carl F. Barnes, Jr., Villard de Honnecourt, the Artist and His Drawings, A Reference Publication in Art History (Boston, 1982).

Listed here in alphabetical order by the last name of the author are ten titles that offer good overviews. There is no actual facsimile edition of the drawings, although Bucher, Erlande-Brandenburg et al. and Hahnloser reproduce all thirty-three leaves of the portfolio.

Carl F. Barnes, Jr., "Villard de Honnecourt," Dictionary of Art (London, 1996), vol. 32, pp. 569-571.
  • Most recent summary. Balanced coverage. Posted on my website.

    • Carl F. Barnes, Jr., "Le 'Problème' Villard de Honnecourt," Les Bâtisseurs des cathédrales gothiques (Strasbourg, 1989), pp. 209-223.
  • Ten reasons why Villard could not have been an architect. English translation posted on my website.

    • Roland Bechmann, Villard de Honnecourt: la pensée technique au XIIIé siècle et sa communication (Paris, 1991).
  • The most significant study of the practical drawings since Hahnloser. Poorly edited.

    • Theodore Bowie, The Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt (Bloomington, 1959; 2nd ed., 1962).
  • Little text, some leaves omitted and the sequence of most rearranged.

    • François Bucher, "[The Lodge Book of] Villard de Honnecourt," Architector, the Lodge Books and Sketchbooks of Medieval Architects, vol. I (New York, 1979), pp. 15-193.
  • For those who do not read French or German, but full of speculative personal interpretations.

    • Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, Régine Pernoud, Jean Gimpel and Roland Bechmann. Carnet de Villard de Honnecourt (Paris, 1986).
  • The most recent publication to reproduce all the leaves. Essays uneven.

    • Jean Gimpel, "Villard de Honnecourt: Architect-Engineer," The Medieval Machine (New York, 1976), pp. 114-146.
  • Enthusiastic overview by one of the founders of AVISTA.

    • Hans R. Hahnloser, Villard de Honnecourt, Kritische Gesamtausgabe des Bauhüttenbuches ms. fr 19093 der Pariser Nationalbibliothek (Vienna, 1935; 2nd rev. ed., Gratz, 1972).
  • The 'classic' study, but difficult to read and a one-issue interpretation that the portfolio was a building lodge manual.

    • Prosper Mérimée, "Album de Villard de Honnecourt," Moniteur universal (20 December 1859) [reprint: Etudes sur les arts du moyen age, (Paris, 1969), pp. 229-270].
  • The earliest comparison of Villard to Leonardo da Vinci.

    • Jules Quicherat, "Notice sur l'album de Villard de Honnecourt, architecte du XIIIe siècle," Revue archéolgique, ser. 1, vol. 6 (1849), pp. 65-80, 164-188, 209-226, and pls. 116-118.
  • The first serious study of the Villard drawings.

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