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The first part of this contribution discusses the philological problems posed by the Ex ludis rerum mathematicarum, notably in No. 6 (on the measurement of the height of a tower of which only the top is visible) and in No. 17 (on the measurement of “any large distance”). In the second part there is a broader consideration of all of Alberti’s technico-scientific works (with particular reference to the De re ædificatoria, the Descriptio urbis Romæ and the De statua) and his classical and mediaeval sources : this focuses specifically on the cultural status of drawn illustration and figures ( picturæ), and the well-known fact that - in the period which preceded the “printing Revolution” - these latter were considered inferior to the written word ( verbum), and it underlines the objective material conditions of manuscript transmission and the natural epistemological implications of those conditions. This paper proposes a series of methodological observations related generally to the practice of textual criticism and publication of scientific texts and any possible illustrations transmitted with them.