JF Ptak Science Books LLC Post 632 Blog Bookstore
Since I had a go at
early illustration earlier today in this blog I thought to write something
about a book that is probably one of the most beautifully printed books not
only of the Renaissance but of all time.
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The Strife of Love in a Dream)
by Francesco Colonna was the greatest achievement by the greatest printer of
the Renaissance (Aldus Manutius in Venice), a
spectacular combination of story and type and design and illustration; an
imaginative, secular Humanist self-romance like no other printed to that
time. ) See the entire text HERE.)
Hypnerotomachia means “the strife of love in a
dream”, and the reference to Poliphili refers to the narrator of the
story, Poliphilo, telling of the love affair between Polia and Poliphilo—the
master text of the whole story though is a description of ancient art and
architecture, all told in a wonderful
”macaronic mélange” of Italian and Latin, and which were the “exact accounts” seen
in Poliphilo’s dreams about Polia.. It is a
modernist book for being printed in the last year of the 15th
century (1499), and stands for vitality and grace and superb design, and
according to George Painter was the Finnegan’s
Wake of the fifteenth century. Painter
continues, and writing that “Gutenberg’s forty-two line Bible of 1455 and the Hypnerotomachia of 1499 confront one
another from opposite ends of the incunable period with equal and contrasting
pre-eminence. The Gutenberg Bible is somberly and sternly German, Gothic, Christian
and mediaeval; the Hypnerotomachia is
radiantly and graciously Italian, classic, pagan and renascent. These are two
supreme masterpieces of the art of printing, and stand at the two poles of
human endeavor and desire! “(Cited by Alan Thomas, Fine Books, 1967, pp 71-4).
Martin Lowry in his The
World of Aldus Manututus (Ithaca, New York, 1979) makes another
interesting statement on this masterpiece: “(Hypnerotomachia) was a linguistic and literary debauch, choked with
recondite imagery, erudite periphrases, and exotic verbiage: a work so bizarre
that many critics have felt a certain uneasiness at Aldus' agreeing to print
it.”
It is truly an astonishing accomplishment, and its significance in the design of type and of the book really cannot be underestimated. As E.P. Goldsmidt stated (in The Printed Book of the Renaissance, 1950, p. 52): "In the North an astonishing proportion of all Renaissance ornament and accessory design can clearly be proved to derive from Colonna..."
The book is summarized here and below:
“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. The action is particularly absurd, however, even by the standards of
the genre. 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 he erotomachia from her own point of view.
This takes up one fifth of the book, after which the hero resumes his
narrative. They are blissfully wed, but Polia vanishes into thin air as
Poliphilo is about to take her into his arms.”
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