Collation: a6 A-Bb6 Cc8 = 164 ff., complete. With engraved woodcut title-page and 181 woodcuts illustrating the text, of which 13 are full-page, several crible initials in preliminary text, large 9-line floriated arabesque initials forming an acrostic throughout, Kerver's unicorn device (Renouard 515) on verso of final leaf. Folio, 338 x 222 mm, bound in nineteenth-century calf, marbled endpapers.
A superb French Edition of the most famous illustrated book of the Renaissance. A large number of these magnificent illustrations are dedicated to gardens. The designer of the original 1499 Aldus woodcuts remains unidentified although speculation has included artists such as Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini. Nor has the author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili been identified with certainty. It was probably written by Francesco Colonna, a Dominican from Treviso, in Latin about 1445. Its two main themes are the allegorical dream-journey of Poliphilus in search of his love Polia, and the praise of Antique art and culture.
WorkNotes
Collation: a6 A-Bb6 Cc8 = 164 ff., complete. With engraved woodcut title-page and 181 woodcuts illustrating the text, of which 13 are full-page, several crible initials in preliminary text, large 9-line floriated arabesque initials forming an acrostic throughout, Kerver's unicorn device (Renouard 515) on verso of final leaf. Folio, 338 x 222 mm, bound in nineteenth-century calf, marbled endpapers.
A superb French Edition of the most famous illustrated book of the Renaissance. A large number of these magnificent illustrations are dedicated to gardens. The designer of the original 1499 Aldus woodcuts remains unidentified although speculation has included artists such as Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini. Nor has the author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili been identified with certainty. It was probably written by Francesco Colonna, a Dominican from Treviso, in Latin about 1445. Its two main themes are the allegorical dream-journey of Poliphilus in search of his love Polia, and the praise of Antique art and culture.
Work Notes
Image Notes:
"I was sitting alone in my bedroom, enwrapped in these unaccustomed fires, and behold! I was suddenly astonished to see a chariot that passed through the open window, going very fast and making a violent and terrifying noise. It was all of crystalline ice, drawn by two white horned stages, harnessed with chains of grey lead. On the vehicle there sat a furious goddess crowned with a wreath of agnus castus, with an unstrung bow and an empty quiver, who turned a frightful countenace on me, burning with desire to wreak cruel vengeance."
ReproNotes
"I was sitting alone in my bedroom, enwrapped in these unaccustomed fires, and behold! I was suddenly astonished to see a chariot that passed through the open window, going very fast and making a violent and terrifying noise. It was all of crystalline ice, drawn by two white horned stages, harnessed with chains of grey lead. On the vehicle there sat a furious goddess crowned with a wreath of agnus castus, with an unstrung bow and an empty quiver, who turned a frightful countenace on me, burning with desire to wreak cruel vengeance."
Image Notes
Rights Type:
fair use
ReproRightsDetails
fair use
Rights Type
Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile
