PROPERTY FROM THE MACHEN FAMILY COLLECTION OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527). Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, ubi humana omnia non nisi somnium esse docet. Atque obiter plurima scitu sane quam digna commemorate. Venice: Aldus Manutius for Leonardus Crassus, December 1499.
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COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527). Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, ubi humana omnia non nisi somnium esse docet. Atque obiter plurima scitu sane quam digna commemorate. Venice: Aldus Manutius for Leonardus Crassus, December 1499.
Aldine 2° (290 x 198 mm). Collation: p4; a-y8 z10 (Book I); A-E8 F4 (Book II, epitaphs, errata and colophon). 230 leaves (of 234; lacking p4 preliminary matter). Roman types 115 (evolved from 2:114), cut by Francesco Griffo, and 10:82 (first title), Greek type 7:114 (occasional words) and square Hebrew (b8). 172 WOODCUTS, including 11 full-page illustrations, attributed to BENEDETTO BORDON, 39 woodcut initials (17 blocks) form an acrostic including the author's name. (Lacks four leaves, B3-F4 with mended wormhole affecting letters and images on lower portion of the page, a few scattered mended wormholes affecting letters on last few pages, some light marginal staining, worse along gutter margin s3-5.) Late 19th-century vellum (some light darkening and staining). Provenance: bookplate removed from front paste-down; Monsignor D'Aquino (bibliographic note on front free endpaper); acquired from Bouchard in the Library of Monsignor D'Aquino (“Comprato da Bouchard nella Libreria di Monsignor D'Aquino. La sopra nota è di carattere del D. dottissimo Monsignore” note on front free endpaper); Giorgio Hervey, (purchase information dated Rome, January 1825, on front free endpaper “venduto al Signor Giorgio Hervey - Roma, Gennaio 1825 - Geol. Harvey?”); acquired by Arthur W. Machen (1827-1915).
FIRST EDITION OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED ILLUSTRATED PRINTED BOOK OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Much influenced by the architectural theories of Vitruvius and Alberti, this allegorical romance, relating Poliphilo's wanderings in pursuit of his beloved Polia through mythical landscapes filled with antique palaces, temples, ruins, pyramids, obelisks and other structures, must be read as a treatise on art and aesthetics. The book was written in what may be described as Latinate Italian and consciously designed as a work of art through the extraordinary integration of text, typography and illustration. It greatly influenced artists and designers as can be seen in the classical ornament of late-Renaissance Italy and especially France.
In the dedicatory letter Leonardus Crassus reveals himself as the publisher, but it is the as yet unidentified creator of the woodcuts (two are signed with a lower-case b) who was no doubt responsible for designing the book, presumably in collaboration with the author and the printer. Aldus produced no other fully illustrated book and printed very little else on commission. L. Donati, "Diciamo qualche cosa del Polifilo!" in: Maso Finiguerra 3 (1938) pp. 70-96; C. Bühler, "Newly discovered variant settings in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," in: Festschrift für Claus Nissen (1973) pp. 36-42. HC *5501; GW 7223; BMC V, 561; IGI 3062; Goff C-767; Essling 1198; Sander 2056.
Aldine 2° (290 x 198 mm). Collation: p4; a-y8 z10 (Book I); A-E8 F4 (Book II, epitaphs, errata and colophon). 230 leaves (of 234; lacking p4 preliminary matter). Roman types 115 (evolved from 2:114), cut by Francesco Griffo, and 10:82 (first title), Greek type 7:114 (occasional words) and square Hebrew (b8). 172 WOODCUTS, including 11 full-page illustrations, attributed to BENEDETTO BORDON, 39 woodcut initials (17 blocks) form an acrostic including the author's name. (Lacks four leaves, B3-F4 with mended wormhole affecting letters and images on lower portion of the page, a few scattered mended wormholes affecting letters on last few pages, some light marginal staining, worse along gutter margin s3-5.) Late 19th-century vellum (some light darkening and staining). Provenance: bookplate removed from front paste-down; Monsignor D'Aquino (bibliographic note on front free endpaper); acquired from Bouchard in the Library of Monsignor D'Aquino (“Comprato da Bouchard nella Libreria di Monsignor D'Aquino. La sopra nota è di carattere del D. dottissimo Monsignore” note on front free endpaper); Giorgio Hervey, (purchase information dated Rome, January 1825, on front free endpaper “venduto al Signor Giorgio Hervey - Roma, Gennaio 1825 - Geol. Harvey?”); acquired by Arthur W. Machen (1827-1915).
FIRST EDITION OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED ILLUSTRATED PRINTED BOOK OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Much influenced by the architectural theories of Vitruvius and Alberti, this allegorical romance, relating Poliphilo's wanderings in pursuit of his beloved Polia through mythical landscapes filled with antique palaces, temples, ruins, pyramids, obelisks and other structures, must be read as a treatise on art and aesthetics. The book was written in what may be described as Latinate Italian and consciously designed as a work of art through the extraordinary integration of text, typography and illustration. It greatly influenced artists and designers as can be seen in the classical ornament of late-Renaissance Italy and especially France.
In the dedicatory letter Leonardus Crassus reveals himself as the publisher, but it is the as yet unidentified creator of the woodcuts (two are signed with a lower-case b) who was no doubt responsible for designing the book, presumably in collaboration with the author and the printer. Aldus produced no other fully illustrated book and printed very little else on commission. L. Donati, "Diciamo qualche cosa del Polifilo!" in: Maso Finiguerra 3 (1938) pp. 70-96; C. Bühler, "Newly discovered variant settings in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," in: Festschrift für Claus Nissen (1973) pp. 36-42. HC *5501; GW 7223; BMC V, 561; IGI 3062; Goff C-767; Essling 1198; Sander 2056.