December 1499, for Leonardus Crassus

The limited market for expensive Greek books forced Aldus to add Latin and vernacular titles to his catalogue. These were occasionally embellished by woodcut illustrations, as in the case of the famous Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and Aratus’s Phaenomena.

The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is an allegorical romance describing the ‘strife for love in a dream’ of young Polifilo in search of his beloved Polia. It was written in a difficult vernacular prose full of pretentious neologisms from Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The edition was commissioned and paid by Leonardo Grassi, a papal protonotary from Verona, but the identity of the author, probably a minor humanist and antiquarian from the Veneto, is still debated. He has been generally identified as the Venetian Dominican Friar Francesco Colonna on the basis of an acrostic formed by the first letters of the chapters. The accomplished artist of the woodcut illustrations is likewise anonymous. He shows a full awareness of and complete adherence to the developments of Renaissance arts in Venice and the Veneto at the turn of the century, and has often been associated with Benedetto Bordone (1460–1531), a Paduan artist operating in Venice who illuminated a number of Aldine books.

The woodcut vignettes representing the Triumphs (here the procession of nymphs preceding the carriage of Cupid) closely recall the series of the Triumphs of Caesar painted by Andrea Mantegna (ca 1431–1506) for Francesco II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, between ca 1485 and 1506. Bought by Charles I in 1629, Mantegna’s Triumphs are now on public display at Hampton Court Palace in London.

The book is justifiably famous for its beautiful proportions, the skilful mise-en-page of text, and the classicizing woodcuts, which have since influenced generations of typographers and book designers. Francesco Griffo’s founts, first cut for Bembo’s dialogue De Aetna (1495), were recut for this edition with larger and lighter upper case types.

Inc.3.B.3.134[1830], fols y1 verso-y2 recto