Francesco Colonna: Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the Strife of Love in a Dream

The entire text has been translated for the first time into English, with an introduction by Joscelyn Godwin; and the original woodcut illustrations are shown. Anyone who has studied the history of printing to any extent (including my own and other generations who enjoyed the historical bibliography course of the old Library Association postgraduate syllabus as its most enjoyable feature) will immediately recognise the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, whether by its title or its illustrations. The subsequent influence on book design of Aldus’s magnificent volume was enormous: one has only to look at contemporary northern European woodcut illustrations to appreciate the...