Beschreibung:

Colonna (Francesco)] Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, first edition, 234ff., 39 lines, Roman letter, 172 woodcut illustrations in the text, of which 11 full-page (including the famous triumph of Priapus, here uncensored), and 39 initials, last leaf with errata corrigé and the colophon, in this copy, at l. F3v, an old annotation suggests that the initial letters of the three-lines Epitaphium Poliae stand for F[ranciscus] C[olumna] I[nvenit], lines 4 and 5 of the title corrected to read 'sane/quam' as in most copies, none of the nine reset leaves is present in this copy (cf. N. Harris, Nine Reset Sheets in the Aldine 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili' (1499), in 'Gutenberg-Jahrbuch', 2006, pp. 245-275), ruled throughout in red, title probably supplied from a shorter copy with an extension in the upper margin, leaves k4-5 inlaid and repaired, round wormhole in lower blank margin of the last leaves, but generally a crisp and wide-margined copy, French 18th-century red morocco, gilt triple fillets on covers, spine with six raised bands richly gilt with floral patterns and stars and with gilt title in the second compartment, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, inner gilt dentelles, [BMC, V, 561; Goff, C-767; HC 5501; Ahmanson-Murphy, 35; Renouard, Alde, 21:5; Sander, 2056; Essling, 1198], folio (311 x 205mm), Venice, Aldus Manutius for Leonardus Crassus, December 1499. ⁂ First edition of the most famous illustrated book of the Renaissance, probably the pinnacle of Aldus' typograhical production. Aldus as an editor of Greek and Latin classics for the academic world was hesitant to be involved in this project. Indeed, his name appears only in the small-type colophon printed at the end and is not present in all copies. Come what may, the final result was a volume of exceptional quality, a luxurious production (a copy cost one Venetian ducat), whose overall elegance of layout, fonts and illustrations are still greatly admired today. The work is usually attributed to the Dominican friar Francesco Colonna, whose name is mentioned only in the acrostic formed by the thirty-eight initials that open each chapter: "Poliam frater Franciscus Columna peramavit" ('Brother Francesco Colonna intensely loved Polia'). Polia being not only the name of his beloved, but also meaning "all things" in Greek. The 'Dream of Poliphilus' is considered one of the most bizarre and controversial works of world literature. Firstly, its language is a hybrid mixture of Latin and north Italian vernacular, which is interspersed with frequent Greek and Hebrew words. Secondly, the text is full of digressions and obscure allegories, which tell of the initiation of Poliphilus into sensory and intellectual knowledge. Of the three possible destinies (asceticism, worldly glory and pleasure of love) Poliphilus chooses the last. Introduced to the secrets of love, he marries the woman he loves (Polia) and reaches the island of Venus. The second part of the work, set in a transfigured town which is however recognisable as Treviso in the Veneto, holds the key to deciphering the enigma of the first part and reveals that everything was just a dream. The final, and possibly most important, aspect that makes this work unique is its sumptuous iconography. The importance of the woodcut series, variously associated with the names of famous artists of the time, is demonstrated by the fact that the Hypnerotomachia exerted more influence in the history of art than in literary history. Renaissance and Baroque painters such as Giorgione, Tintoretto, Agostino Carracci and Pietro da Cortona drew great inspiration from the book. Today most scholars agree on attributing the woodcuts to the miniaturist, copyist, woodcutter and designer Benedetto Bordon The double frame, well-balanced layout, classical themes, use of shading with parallel lines and the clear influence of Mantegna are all unequivocally aspects related to the style of Bordon. Among the many allegorical illustrations is the dolphin with the anchor wh