Beschreibung:

COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527). Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du songe de Poliphile, Deduisant comme Amour le combat a l'occasion de Polia . Anonymous French translation by a Knight of Malta, from the original Italian. Edited by Jean Martin. Paris: Marin Massellin for Jacques Kerver 22 n d December 1553-1554.
COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527). Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du songe de Poliphile, Deduisant comme Amour le combat a l'occasion de Polia . Anonymous French translation by a Knight of Malta, from the original Italian. Edited by Jean Martin. Paris: Marin Massellin for Jacques Kerver 22 n d December 1553-1554. M2 o (347 x 215mm). Collation: ã 6 (preliminaries), A-Y 6 (book I); Z 6 Aa-Bb 6 Cc 8 (book II, Cc8 blank except for device on verso). 164 leaves. Roman type. Typographical title within publisher's woodcut border of terminal figures, cherubs and scrollwork, publisher's large woodcut device on last page, 181 WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS, woodcut foliated headpieces and initials, and a series of large arabesque initials. (Tear in C5 and small marginal one in D4 mended, stamp erased from lower blank margins of title, B3, penultimate and last leaf.) BINDING: late-16 t h -century Parisian gold-tooled polished calf, paneled sides, fleuron within a wreath in the center, leafy corner-pieces incorporating a cherub's head, the same fleuron at the outer angles, a small hatched foliate tool in the paneled compartments of the spine, gilt edges, (rubbed in places, some restoration to joints, headcaps and corners). Slipcase. Provenance : Jacques ANDROUET DU CERCEAU (c. 1510-84) or another contemporary member of the Du Cerceau family of architects (pen-trials of the Ducerceau signature and paraphs, calligraphic inscriptions of French rhyming couplets and Margaret of Austria's motto fortune infortune fort une ) -- Benjamin Fillon, author of Quelques mots sur le Songe de Poliphile 1879 (ownership signature dated 1871; Etienne Charavay, Inventaire des autographes et documents historiques reunis par M. Benjamin Fillon v.II, 1879, no. 1592) -- Dr. Lucien-Graux (gilt-lettered morocco booklabel) -- Acquired from Nicolas Rauch 1959. Second edition of the first French translation. In a brief Latin note to the reader Jacques Gohory, who was closely involved with the activities of Kerver's press and himself the translator of Machiavelli, reveals that he had obtained this translation from a Knight of Malta and handed it to Jean Martin for publication. Martin, the translator of Vitruvius, who in his own introduction points out the complications of Colonna's text larded with Latin and Greek, applied some finishing touches and dedicated the edition to count Henri de Lenoncourt, famous for his interest in architecture and owner of the magnificent palace of Nanteuil. All illustrations were printed from the same blocks cut for the first French edition of 1546, except the full-page diagram on B6v, which was recut. They follow the Aldine iconography, but are adapted to French technique and taste, with more landscape and architectural detail, while 14 illustrations of buildings and formal gardens are original and cannot be found in the Italian editions. Several artists had a hand in designing the cuts, the most accomplished of whom was probably JEAN GOUJON who also collaborated with Martin on his Vitruvius of 1547. This copy was presumably bound for Androuet du Cerceau, who inscribed it on the back free endpaper facing Kerver's magnificent unicorn device. He was probably Jacques I , the Royal Architect, whose influence on French Renaissance architecture was greater through his publications than his buildings. Two other family members, however, both important architects, cannot be dismissed: Jean-Baptiste (d. 1590), who designed the Pont Neuf and worked on the Louvre; and Jacques II (d. 1614), who designed the Pavillon de Flore, the only part of the Tuileries still standing. Brun p. 174; Brunet IV, 778-779; Mortimer French 146. Fact and Fantasy 35.