COLONNA Francesco Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.

Goff, C-767; Renouard, p.21, 5; B.M.C., V, 561; Essling, I,2.2, 1198; G.W., 7223; Hain-Copinger, 5501; Sander, I, 365.

First edition. A typographic masterpiece by Aldus Manutius and without doubt one of the most beautiful illustrated books of all time.

The very famous Dream of Poliphilius is a kind of allegorical love novel, written in a curious mixture of Italian and Latin, in a refined style full of artifice. Francesco Colonna (1433-1527), who joined the Order of Saint Dominic at a very young age, tried to express, in an attitude dear to the humanists, an acute awareness of the splendour of life, as underlined by the title Hypnerotomachia, which means the struggle between sleep and love. The Renaissance taste for Antiquity is apparent in his descriptions of sumptuously decorated palaces surrounded by extraordinary gardens. 

“The reconciliation of heterogeneous literary, philosophical or religious elements belonging to different cultures and a syncretistic integration (Pettazzoni 1934: 24 ff.) of different cultural and intellectual experiences, which is characteristic of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern area, dates back to antiquity. These tendencies, taken up by 15th-century philosophers and men of letters, manifested themselves in Francesco Colonna’s work, which Renaissance scholars unanimously consider the most beautiful book ever written and certainly the most famous of the time. Published in Venice in 1499, in the workshop of Aldo Manuzio, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili belongs to the rarest and most precious of incunabula: adorned with splendid engravings by an unknown artist, it contains the text arranged in a refined graphic form and is distinguished by a harmonious distribution of silographs and letters printed with elegant characters, engraved by Francesco Griffo himself. It is the most original and heteronomous work of the second half of the 15th century. The book, written by a humanist of great wisdom and prodigious memory, creates a universal philosophical-artistic vision that becomes a testimony to the legacy of a culture that had changed Europe: ancient and present worlds mingle, Christianity does not exist without Greek, Latin without Hebrew and Arabic, and all cultures influence each other. Arabic language and writing became one of the foundations of humanistic culture and acquired a place alongside Latin and Greek: it was a philological conquest of the intellectuals of the 15th century who broadened their studies and directed their research towards the Eastern world and traditions. The phenomenon takes on particular importance when Giovanni Pico della Mirandola expresses the project of a reconciliation of conflicting but collectable testamentary writings and Marsilo Ficino proposes a doctrinal comparison between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions” (Anna Klimkiewicz, Uniwersytet Jagielloñski w Krakowi, in : The Syncretic Culture in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by Francesco Colonna).

 “The action of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili takes place in a dream. The books opens on the hero, Poliphilo, who has spent a restless night because his beloved, Polia, has shunned him. At the break of day, he finally falls into a deep slumber and his Hypnerotomachia, or, as it can be roughly translated, “struggle for love in a dream,” begins. Poliphilo is transported into a wild forest. He gets lost, escapes, and falls asleep once more. He then awakens in a second dream, dreamed inside the first. Within it, he is taken by some nymphs to meet their queen. There he is asked to declare his love for Polia, which he does. He is then directed by two nymphs to three gates. He chooses the third, and there he discovers his beloved. They are taken by some more nymphs to a temple to be engaged. Along the way they come across no less than five triumphal processions celebrating the union of the lovers. Then they are taken to the island of Cythera by barge, with Cupid as the boatswain; there they see another triumphal procession celebrating their union. The narrative is uninterrupted, and a second voice takes over, as Polia describes the erotomachia from her own point of view. They are blissfully wed, but Polia vanishes into thin air as Poliphilo is about to take her into his arms.” (L. Lefaivre, Leon Battista Alberti’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 1997. The MIT Press). 

A typographic masterpiece by Aldus Manutius and without doubt one of the most beautiful illustrated books of all time.

The illustrations include one hundred and seventy superb woodcuts, ten of which are full-page. For more than five centuries, this iconography has been the subject of the most varied attributions. Although the names of Bellini and Mantegna were initially put forward, scholars today attribute these engravings to Benedetto Bordone of Padua. 

“Sans doute parce que le sujet lui convenait, l’illustrateur, quel qu’il fut, produisit un chef-d’œuvre sans égal, où texte et image s’intégraient parfaitement. Arches, temples, vases, sculptures, inscriptions, chars de triomphe correspondaient admirablement aux descriptions de l’auteur, avec en plus une sorte de verve qui donnait au livre entier son brio… C’était une plongée sensuelle dans les splendeurs ressuscitées du passé païen” (M. Lowry, Le Monde d’Alde Manuce). 

“As regards the authorship of the wonderful illustrations, the signature b. on the third has led to their being attributed to numerous celebrated artists” (A.W. Pollard). 

This book “a exercé une influence considérable, non seulement sur l’esthétique du livre à cette époque mais aussi dans les multiples applications de l’art décoratif.” (Brun) 

A very good unwashed and crisp copy with the Priapes engraving in fine condition.