{"product_id":"the-most-beautiful-book-of-the-renaissance","title":"The Most Beautiful Book of the Renaissance","description":"\u003ch3\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eFrancesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili in Its French Edition with 180 Contemporary Coloured Woodcuts à l’italienne\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[Colonna, Francesco]. \u003cem\u003eHypnerotomachie, ou Discours du songe de Poliphile, Deduisant comme Amour le combat à l’occasion de Polia. […] Nouuellement traduict de langage Italien en Francois.\u003c\/em\u003e Paris, Jacques Kerver, 1561.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the supreme masterpieces of Renaissance book art and among the most celebrated illustrated books ever printed: the French \u003cem\u003eHypnerotomachie\u003c\/em\u003e of 1561, adorned with more than 180 extraordinary woodcuts printed à l’italienne and entirely contemporary coloured in delicate polychromy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConceived as a total work of art uniting typography, architecture, myth, erotic allegory, archaeology, dream narrative, and illustration into a single harmonious vision, the \u003cem\u003eHypnerotomachia Poliphili\u003c\/em\u003e has often been called the most beautiful book of the Renaissance. The present copy is of exceptional importance for its extensive early colouring, which appears to be unique among recorded copies known to the catalogue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Bibliographic Information\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ea6 A-Z6 Aa-Bb6 Cc8 = 6 leaves, 157 numbered leaves, 1 leaf. Printed with narrow marginal commentary column occasionally used; several lines in Greek.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIllustrated with large architectural title border, 181 woodcut illustrations in various sizes including 11 full-page compositions, all contemporary coloured, together with printer’s device, nine coloured headpieces, forty large historiated initials, and additional decorative initials throughout. Folio, virtually untrimmed with numerous deckle edges preserved (348 × 223 mm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEighteenth-century dark brown calf binding over six raised bands with gilt spine title and floral tooling in compartments; double gilt fillet borders to covers. Remarkably, the original sixteenth-century black centre panels with arabesque cartouches and fleurons were preserved and inset into the later binding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Renaissance Dream Book\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFew books embody the imagination of the Renaissance as completely as the \u003cem\u003eHypnerotomachia Poliphili\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst printed by Aldus Manutius in Venice in 1499, the work follows the dream-journey of Poliphilo in pursuit of his beloved Polia through an immense allegorical landscape of ruins, gardens, pyramids, obelisks, temples, triumphal processions, mythological ceremonies, and erotic initiations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe anonymous author concealed his identity through an acrostic formed from the opening letters of the chapters:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCUS COLUMNA PERAMAVIT.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe author is generally identified as the Venetian Dominican Francesco Colonna (1433–1527), a humanist deeply immersed in classical antiquity, architecture, rhetoric, mythology, archaeology, and Neoplatonic philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe narrative combines the sensuality of a love romance with the encyclopedic ambition of Renaissance humanism. Pliny, Vitruvius, Hippocrates, Alberti, Dante, Boccaccio, ancient mythology, Egyptian motifs, classical architecture, inscriptions, botany, and archaeology merge into a dream-world unlike anything else in Renaissance literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe French Renaissance Reinvents the Hypnerotomachia\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first French edition appeared in Paris in 1546 in the translation of Jean Martin. Rather than a literal translation, it became a highly creative reinterpretation of the Italian original:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“plutôt un extrait ou une imitation du Poliphile italien, qu’une véritable traduction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe illustrations likewise freely reinterpret the celebrated Aldine woodcuts of 1499. Fourteen entirely new subjects were added in the French edition, possibly designed by Jean Cousin, Jean Goujon, and other major artists of the French Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present 1561 printing is the third French edition, issued again by Jacques Kerver and closely following the celebrated 1546 edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMore Than 180 Woodcuts à l’italienne\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe visual program of the book remains astonishing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe woodcuts depict antique architecture, triumphal processions, inscriptions, gardens, ritual ceremonies, mythological scenes, ruins, fountains, obelisks, sarcophagi, labyrinths, temples, and erotic encounters with extraordinary elegance and clarity of line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir compositional balance softens the often delirious fantasy of the text itself. Perspective, architectural proportion, and rhythmic linearity create a dream-space suspended between archaeology and hallucination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present copy’s contemporary colouring transforms the illustrations even further.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLong before later classicism imposed the fantasy of a monochrome white antiquity, this copy restores something closer to the lost polychromy of the ancient world itself. The colouring is not heavy or opaque, but delicately washed à l’italienne, preserving the refinement of the line work while animating architecture, garments, landscapes, ornaments, and mythological scenes with luminous colour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFrom the Roman de la Rose to the Renaissance Dream\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eHypnerotomachia\u003c\/em\u003e effectively replaced the medieval \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e as the great allegorical love narrative of the Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYet the difference between the two worlds could hardly be greater.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the medieval dream vision unfolds within the enclosed garden of courtly love, Poliphilo wanders instead through vast desolate landscapes, ancient ruins, dark forests, pyramids, necropolises, and idealized classical architectures. The beloved Polia gradually becomes less an inaccessible courtly lady than a guide through aesthetic, philosophical, and sensual initiation itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFive nymphs representing the senses lead the dreamer toward increasingly symbolic encounters until Venus herself presides over the mystical union of the lovers on Cythera.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe novel ultimately celebrates eros not merely as romantic desire, but as the organizing principle of humanity’s relationship to beauty, architecture, memory, antiquity, and civilization itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Renaissance Livre d’Artiste\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe original Aldine edition has often been regarded as the first true \u003cem\u003elivre d’artiste\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTypography, page design, illustration, spacing, architecture, ornament, and textual rhythm were conceived as a unified aesthetic object. The French edition extended this legacy and became one of the most influential illustrated books of the sixteenth century, shaping not only book design but decorative arts more broadly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts influence extended into architecture, garden design, ornament, theatrical staging, archaeology, typography, and the entire European imagination of antiquity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEighteenth-century ownership inscription and extensive bibliographical notes by Louis Gaspard Joseph de Clermont-Gallerande (1744–1837), dated 1781, with presentation note to his son Adolphe Armand Louis Gaspard de Clermont-Gallerande (1798–1863).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBirchler; BM STC French 119; Brun 157; Brunet IV, 779; Davies, \u003cem\u003eFairfax Murray French\u003c\/em\u003e, no. 100; Ebert 17611; Graesse V, 388; Mortimer, \u003cem\u003eFrench\u003c\/em\u003e, no. 147; Rahir 375; Schürmeyer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 55:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_2_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume II\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46842425835708,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Colonna-1.jpg?v=1779236526","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/the-most-beautiful-book-of-the-renaissance","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}