Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by Francesco Colonna (1499)

Woodblock print on laid paper bound in calf

SAFE/ RB/ LQ2/ C

Purchased in 1918

February 2015 will mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Venetian printer, Aldus Manutius who established his famous Aldine Press in 1494. Only 40 years after the introduction of moveable metal type, the Aldine Press published some of the most beautifully designed books through the use of inventive typography, layout and illustrations. In 1499 the Aldine Press published the magnificent Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. This beautiful incunabula was written by a Dominican monk, Francesco Colonna, in an odd hybrid of Italian, Latin and Greek. It describes Poliphili’s pursuit of his lover Polia through a fantastic world of mythology, art, gardens and architecture. Poliphili’s dreamy and erotic tale includes woodcut initials and illustrations attributed to a range of important Renaissance artists including Bellini and Botticelli.