Details
[COLONNA, Francesco (1433-1527)]. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, in Italian. With preliminary matter in Latin by Leonardus Crassus, Johann Baptista Scytha and Andreas Maro. Venice: Aldus Manutius [for Leonardus Crassus], December 1499.
Super-chancery 2° (299 x 202 mm). Collation: π4 a-y8 z10 A-E8 F4 (π1r title, π1v Leonardus Crassus's dedication to Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, π2r poem addressed to the publisher by Joannes Baptista Scytha and an anonymous elegy addressed to the reader, π3r prose and verse synopses in Italian, π4v epigrams by Andreas Maro Brixianus, a1r second title, a1v Poliphilus Poliae. S.P.D., a2r Book I, z10v blank, A1r Book II, F4r errata and colophon, F4v blank). 234 leaves. 39 lines. Types 115R, a state derived from type 2:114R (text), 7:114Gk (a few words), 10:82R (title, errata, massed capitals in quires q, r and elsewhere), 9:82Gk (errata), square Hebrew type (2 lines each on b8r and b8v). Two letters (AM) stamped in by hand correcting "SANEQUE" to "SANEQUAM" in line 5 of second title on a1r (as in GW Anm. 2). Two 8-line and 37 6-line woodcut initials, the latter printed from 17 blocks from 2 sets, one white-on-black strapwork, the other floriated black-line, the initials forming an acrostic reading "POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCUS COLUMNA PERAMAVIT." 172 woodcut illustrations of various sizes, of which 11 full-page, the Priapus cut intact. (Tiny marginal tear to fol. n8, wormhole to lower foremargin of last 50 leaves, fol. D6r poorly printed with some slippage of letters.)
Binding: MID-SIXTEENTH-CENTURY BLIND-PANELLED DARK BROWN CALF OVER PASTEBOARD, BY THE FLEMISH BINDER CLAUS VAN DOERMAELE, the covers panelled with blind fillets and two frames of foliated roll-tools enclosing a central panel containing a circular medallion panel-stamp of the Emperor Charles V in a richly decorated suit of armor with sword, with the legend "CAROLVS.V.ROMA.IMP.SEMPER. AVGVST.ETAT.SVE.XLII", the Imperial insignia above and below, surrounding the panel a narrow foliated roll-tool with a central escutcheon at the foot bearing the binder's mark "CVD", spine in five compartments, four with gilt-tooled star ornaments apparently applied at a later date, later lettering-piece in the fifth, manuscript vellum spine linings (rebacked, preserving most of original(?) backstrip, corners restored, covers slightly rubbed with some minor loss of leather, a few small chips to lower cover); modern red morocco two-part pull-off case.
Provenance: Franciscus Fr. F. Raphelengius (ca. 1568-1643), printer and Latinist, son of the philologist of the same name and grandson of Christophe Plantin, neat small ink-stamp at foot of first title page; Bertram, Fourth Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), shelfmark "2.H" on front pastedown; Edouard Rahir (1862-1924), bookplate (sale, Paris, Part I, 7-9 May 1930, lot 60, 281,000FF to Seymour de Ricci); Louis H. Silver, bookplate (sale, Sotheby's, 28 February 1966, £5,800 to H. P. Kraus).
THE RAPHELENGIUS--ASHBURNHAM--RAHIR--SILVER COPY OF THE MOST CELEBRATED ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. The anonymous text, an allegorical love story, echoes in form the medieval chivalric romances but in substance expresses a humanist vision of classical art and aesthetics, strongly influenced by the works of Alberti and Vitruvius. The protagonist Polifilo pursues his beloved Polia through a fantastic landscape of pyramids, palaces, obelisks and ruined temples, through bacchanalian festivals and various misfortunes until their final reunion under the auspices of Venus. The longstanding attribution to Colonna, a debauched Franciscan friar of San Zanipolo in Venice, has been disputed, and the Servite Eliseo da Treviso has been recently proposed as a possible candidate; the latter attribution, however, has not found favor and general opinion rests with Colonna. The attribution to Colonna is supported by several contemporary marks of evidence, including a unique setting of the first sheet (π1.4), probably a cancellandum, preserved in the Berlin copy, with verse referring directly to Colonna's authorship.
The fine woodcuts, set within an imaginative and appealingly varied typographical layout, have been tentatively ascribed to the Paduan miniaturist Benedetto Bordone, but like the numerous rival attributions, this one remains speculative. The initial "b" with which two of the cuts (on a6v and c1r) are signed appears in other early Italian woodblocks and is more likely to indicate a shop than an individual artist. What is certain is that the illustrations of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili exerted an immense influence on the design of Renaissance ornament and accessories throughout Europe and particularly in Northern Europe. In the context of Aldine printing, it is interesting to note that a prototype of the Aldine dolphin and anchor device appears on fol. d7r, presented horizontally.
The binder Nicholas or Claes van Doermaele came to Antwerp in 1533, where he was made Stadsboekbinder following the death of Willem Vorsterman in 1543. Van Doermaele is recorded as binder of the Antwerp archives up to 1549. A binding in the National Art Library at South Kensington (Weale B.94) with the same central panel and binder's mark, on an octavo format edition of the Opus historiarum nostro seculo, Basel 1541, is described by E.P. Goldschmidt in his Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, no. 184. Neither of these two bindings could have been executed before 1542, since, as Goldschmidt points out, Charles V was born in 1500, making him 42 years old in that year.
A FINE, FRESH COPY.
HC *5501; BMC V, 561 (IB. 24500); GW 7223 (Anm. 2); IDL 1353; IGI 3062; Oates 2192-3; Pellechet 3867; Polain (B) 1126; Schaefer/Armin 107; Essling 1198; Sander 2056; Goff C-767.
Super-chancery 2° (299 x 202 mm). Collation: π4 a-y8 z10 A-E8 F4 (π1r title, π1v Leonardus Crassus's dedication to Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, π2r poem addressed to the publisher by Joannes Baptista Scytha and an anonymous elegy addressed to the reader, π3r prose and verse synopses in Italian, π4v epigrams by Andreas Maro Brixianus, a1r second title, a1v Poliphilus Poliae. S.P.D., a2r Book I, z10v blank, A1r Book II, F4r errata and colophon, F4v blank). 234 leaves. 39 lines. Types 115R, a state derived from type 2:114R (text), 7:114Gk (a few words), 10:82R (title, errata, massed capitals in quires q, r and elsewhere), 9:82Gk (errata), square Hebrew type (2 lines each on b8r and b8v). Two letters (AM) stamped in by hand correcting "SANEQUE" to "SANEQUAM" in line 5 of second title on a1r (as in GW Anm. 2). Two 8-line and 37 6-line woodcut initials, the latter printed from 17 blocks from 2 sets, one white-on-black strapwork, the other floriated black-line, the initials forming an acrostic reading "POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCUS COLUMNA PERAMAVIT." 172 woodcut illustrations of various sizes, of which 11 full-page, the Priapus cut intact. (Tiny marginal tear to fol. n8, wormhole to lower foremargin of last 50 leaves, fol. D6r poorly printed with some slippage of letters.)
Binding: MID-SIXTEENTH-CENTURY BLIND-PANELLED DARK BROWN CALF OVER PASTEBOARD, BY THE FLEMISH BINDER CLAUS VAN DOERMAELE, the covers panelled with blind fillets and two frames of foliated roll-tools enclosing a central panel containing a circular medallion panel-stamp of the Emperor Charles V in a richly decorated suit of armor with sword, with the legend "CAROLVS.V.ROMA.IMP.SEMPER. AVGVST.ETAT.SVE.XLII", the Imperial insignia above and below, surrounding the panel a narrow foliated roll-tool with a central escutcheon at the foot bearing the binder's mark "CVD", spine in five compartments, four with gilt-tooled star ornaments apparently applied at a later date, later lettering-piece in the fifth, manuscript vellum spine linings (rebacked, preserving most of original(?) backstrip, corners restored, covers slightly rubbed with some minor loss of leather, a few small chips to lower cover); modern red morocco two-part pull-off case.
Provenance: Franciscus Fr. F. Raphelengius (ca. 1568-1643), printer and Latinist, son of the philologist of the same name and grandson of Christophe Plantin, neat small ink-stamp at foot of first title page; Bertram, Fourth Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), shelfmark "2.H" on front pastedown; Edouard Rahir (1862-1924), bookplate (sale, Paris, Part I, 7-9 May 1930, lot 60, 281,000FF to Seymour de Ricci); Louis H. Silver, bookplate (sale, Sotheby's, 28 February 1966, £5,800 to H. P. Kraus).
THE RAPHELENGIUS--ASHBURNHAM--RAHIR--SILVER COPY OF THE MOST CELEBRATED ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. The anonymous text, an allegorical love story, echoes in form the medieval chivalric romances but in substance expresses a humanist vision of classical art and aesthetics, strongly influenced by the works of Alberti and Vitruvius. The protagonist Polifilo pursues his beloved Polia through a fantastic landscape of pyramids, palaces, obelisks and ruined temples, through bacchanalian festivals and various misfortunes until their final reunion under the auspices of Venus. The longstanding attribution to Colonna, a debauched Franciscan friar of San Zanipolo in Venice, has been disputed, and the Servite Eliseo da Treviso has been recently proposed as a possible candidate; the latter attribution, however, has not found favor and general opinion rests with Colonna. The attribution to Colonna is supported by several contemporary marks of evidence, including a unique setting of the first sheet (π1.4), probably a cancellandum, preserved in the Berlin copy, with verse referring directly to Colonna's authorship.
The fine woodcuts, set within an imaginative and appealingly varied typographical layout, have been tentatively ascribed to the Paduan miniaturist Benedetto Bordone, but like the numerous rival attributions, this one remains speculative. The initial "b" with which two of the cuts (on a6v and c1r) are signed appears in other early Italian woodblocks and is more likely to indicate a shop than an individual artist. What is certain is that the illustrations of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili exerted an immense influence on the design of Renaissance ornament and accessories throughout Europe and particularly in Northern Europe. In the context of Aldine printing, it is interesting to note that a prototype of the Aldine dolphin and anchor device appears on fol. d7r, presented horizontally.
The binder Nicholas or Claes van Doermaele came to Antwerp in 1533, where he was made Stadsboekbinder following the death of Willem Vorsterman in 1543. Van Doermaele is recorded as binder of the Antwerp archives up to 1549. A binding in the National Art Library at South Kensington (Weale B.94) with the same central panel and binder's mark, on an octavo format edition of the Opus historiarum nostro seculo, Basel 1541, is described by E.P. Goldschmidt in his Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, no. 184. Neither of these two bindings could have been executed before 1542, since, as Goldschmidt points out, Charles V was born in 1500, making him 42 years old in that year.
A FINE, FRESH COPY.
HC *5501; BMC V, 561 (IB. 24500); GW 7223 (Anm. 2); IDL 1353; IGI 3062; Oates 2192-3; Pellechet 3867; Polain (B) 1126; Schaefer/Armin 107; Essling 1198; Sander 2056; Goff C-767.