![[COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527)]. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, in Italian. Venice: Aldus Manutius for Leonardus Crassus, December 1499.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/CKS/2005_CKS_07046_0134_000(101600).jpg?w=1)
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[COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527)]. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, in Italian. Venice: Aldus Manutius for Leonardus Crassus, December 1499.
Super-chancery 2° (307 x 200mm). Collation: \Kp\k4 a-y8 z10 A-E8 F4 (\Kp\k1 title, \Kp\k1v dedicatory letter by Crasso to Guido, Duke of Urbino, \Kp\k2r poem to Crasso by Giovanni Battista Scita, \kp\k3 synopses in verse and prose, \Kp\k4v verses by Andrea Maro of Brescia, a1r second title, a2r book I, A1r book II, F3r colophon, F3v epitaphs, F4r errata, F4v blank). 234 leaves; final leaf containing errata in facsimile. 39 lines. Type: 115R (evolved from 2:114), 7:114Greek, 10:82R, 9:84Greek, square Hebrew, letters AM stamped in by hand as correction in line 5 of second title (a1r) as GW Anm. 2. 172 woodcuts attributed to the Paduan miniaturist Benedetto Bordone, of which 11 are full-page (the Priapus cut untouched), 39 woodcut initials form an acrostic spelling the name Franciscus Columna. (Washed and pressed with some degredation affecting a few woodcuts, traces of red colouring, paper flaw in a4 just touching one letter, paper repairs mostly marginal but occasionally affecting a few letters, lower margin of D1 renewed, tiny wormhole in text in first 3 quires.) Early 20th-century dark brown morocco tooled in gilt and blind by Zaehnsdorf, title and date lettered in gilt on front cover, gilt edges. Provenance: ?GCL (partly erased 19th-century monogram stamp on title) -- Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
FIRST EDITION of the most celebrated illustrated printed book of the Italian Renaissance. It tells the tale of Polifilo in search of his lost love, Polia. His journey takes him through a fantastic dream-world of pyramids and obelisks, classical gardens, ruined temples and bacchanalian festivals, before finding her and gaining ultimate enlightenment at the temple of Venus. Interpretations of the intricate text are many; a recent investigation into explicative near-contemporary annotations written into a copy at Modena shows that it served as a sort of humanist encyclopedia (D. Stichel, 'Reading the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili in the Cinquecento, marginal notes in a copy at Modena,' Aldus Manutius and Renaissance Culture, Essays in memory of Franklin D. Murphy, Florence: 1998).
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili epitomizes the Aldine mastery of type, illustration, design and execution. The identity of the artist responsible for the renowned woodcuts has long been debated, but the Paduan miniaturist Benedetto Bordone, active primarily in Venice, is now widely and reliably considered their author. HC *5501; GW 7223; BMC V, 561 (IB. 24499-24502); Renouard Alde, 21.5; Sander 2056; Essling 1198; Goff C-767.
Super-chancery 2° (307 x 200mm). Collation: \Kp\k
FIRST EDITION of the most celebrated illustrated printed book of the Italian Renaissance. It tells the tale of Polifilo in search of his lost love, Polia. His journey takes him through a fantastic dream-world of pyramids and obelisks, classical gardens, ruined temples and bacchanalian festivals, before finding her and gaining ultimate enlightenment at the temple of Venus. Interpretations of the intricate text are many; a recent investigation into explicative near-contemporary annotations written into a copy at Modena shows that it served as a sort of humanist encyclopedia (D. Stichel, 'Reading the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili in the Cinquecento, marginal notes in a copy at Modena,' Aldus Manutius and Renaissance Culture, Essays in memory of Franklin D. Murphy, Florence: 1998).
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili epitomizes the Aldine mastery of type, illustration, design and execution. The identity of the artist responsible for the renowned woodcuts has long been debated, but the Paduan miniaturist Benedetto Bordone, active primarily in Venice, is now widely and reliably considered their author. HC *5501; GW 7223; BMC V, 561 (IB. 24499-24502); Renouard Alde, 21.5; Sander 2056; Essling 1198; Goff C-767.
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