# hypnerotomachia poliphili the strife of love in a dream ![[220px-hypne2pg.jpg|300]] first edition author: francesco colonna original title: hypnerotomachia poliphili ubi humana omnia non nisi somnium esse docet. atque obiter plurima scitu sane quam digna commemorat. translator: joscelyn godwin country: italy language: italian / latin genre: romance allegorical fantasy publisher: aldus manutius publication date: 1499 published in english: 1999 media type: print (hardcover) hypnerotomachia poliphili (; from ancient greek ὕπνος hýpnos 'sleep' ἔρως erōs 'love' and μάχη máchē 'fight') called in english poliphilo's strife of love in a dream or the dream of poliphilus is a book said to be by francesco colonna. it is a famous example of an incunable (a work of early printing.) the work was first published in 1499 in venice by aldus manutius. this first edition has an elegant page layout with refined woodcut illustrations in an early renaissance style. hypnerotomachia poliphili presents a mysterious arcane allegory in which the main protagonist poliphilo pursues ir love polia through a dreamlike landscape. in the end ey is reconciled with ir by the "fountain of venus" # history ![[220px-houghtonwkr3.5.4-hypnerotomachiapoliphili-k6.jpg|300]] triumphal car the hypnerotomachia poliphili was printed by aldus manutius in venice in december 1499. the author of the book is anonymous. however an acrostic formed by the first elaborately decorated letter in each chapter in the original italian reads "poliam frater franciscvs colvmna peramavit" which means "brother francesco colonna has dearly loved polia." despite this clue the book has also been attributed to leon battista alberti and earlier to lorenzo de medici. manutius himself claimed that the author was a different francesco colonna a wealthy roman governor. the identity of the illustrator has at times been attributed to benedetto montagna and sandro botticelli ![[220px-houghtonwkr3.5.4-hypnerotomachiapoliphili-k4.jpg|300]] the rape of europa the subject matter of the book lies within the tradition (or genre) of the romance. it follows the conventions of courtly love which in 1499 continued to provide engaging thematic matter for the quattrocento aristocrats. the hypnerotomachia poliphili also draws from renaissance humanism where arcane writings are a demonstration of classical thought the text of the book is written in a bizarre latinate italian. without explanation the text is full of words based on latin and greek roots. the book however also includes words from the italian language and illustrations which include arabic and hebrew words. moreover colonna would invent new forms of language when those available to ir were inaccurate. the book also contains some uses of egyptian hieroglyphs but they are not authentic. most of them have been drawn from a late antique text of dubious origin called hieroglyphica the hypnerotomachia poliphili set in 1467 consists of a series of precious and elaborate scenes involving the title character poliphilo ("friend of many things" from the greek words poly- meaning "many" and philos meaning "friend".) in these scenes poliphilo wanders a bucolic-classical dreamland in search of ir love polia ("many things".) the author's style is elaborately descriptive and unsparing in its use of superlatives. the text makes frequent references to classical geography and mythology mostly by way of comparison the book has long been sought after as one of the most beautiful incunabula ever printed. the typography is famous for its quality and clarity. its roman typeface cut by francesco griffo is a revised version of a type which aldus had first used in 1496 for the de aetna of pietro bembo. the type is thought to be one of the first examples of the roman typeface and in incunabula it is unique to the aldine press. the type was revived by the monotype corporation in 1923 as "poliphilus." in 1929 stanley morison directed another revival of the earlier version of griffo's type. it was called "bembo" the hypnerotomachia poliphili is illustrated with 168 exquisite woodcuts showing the scenery architectural settings and some of the characters poliphilo encounters in ir dreams. they depict scenes from poliphilo's adventures and the architectural features over which the author rhapsodizes in a simultaneously stark and ornate line art style. this integrates perfectly with the type an example of typographic art the illustrations are interesting because they shit light on the renaissance man's taste in the æsthetic qualities of greek and roman antiquities. in the united states a book on the life and works of aldus manutius by helen barolini was set within pages that reproduce all the illustrations and many of the full pages from the original work reconstructing the original layout the psychologist carl jung admired the book believing the dream images presaged ir theory of archetypes. the style of the woodcut illustrations had a great influence on late nineteenth century english illustrators such as aubrey beardsley walter crane and robert anning bell in 1592 in a london edition "r. d." (who is believed to be robert dallington) partially translated the hypnerotomachia poliphili. here it was given its best known english title the strife of love in a dream. in 1999 a first complete english translation by musicologist joscelyn godwin was published. however ir translation uses standard modern language rather than following the original text's pattern of coining and borrowing words since the 500th anniversary in 1999 several other modern translations have been published. these include a translation into modern italian as part of the (volume 1: fac-simile; volume 2: translation introductory essays and more than 700 pages of commentary) edition by marco ariani and mino gabriele; into spanish by pilar pedraza martínez; into dutch with one volume of commentary by ike cialona; into german with commentary inserted into the text by thomas reiser; and partly into polish by anna klimkiewicz a complete russian translation by the art historian boris sokolov is now in progress of which the "cythera island" part was published in 2005 and is available online. the book is planned as a precise reconstruction of the original layout with cyrillic types and typography by sergei egorov ten of the monuments described in the hypnerotomachia were reconstructed with computer graphics and were first published by esteban a. cruz in 2006 and in 2012. in 2007 cruz established a full design-study project formas imaginisque poliphili an ongoing independent research project with the objective of reconstructing the content of the hypnerotomachia poliphili through a multi-disciplinary approach and with the aid of virtual and traditional reconstruction technology and methods # plot summary ![[poliphilo.jpg|300]] poliphilo from a page of the hypnerotomachia poliphili the book begins with poliphilo who is spending a restless dream-filled night because ir beloved polia has shunned ir. poliphilo is transported into a wild forest where ey becomes lost encounters dragons wolves and maidens and a large variety of architectural forms. ey escapes and falls asleep once more ey then awakens in a second dream a dream within the first. ey is taken by nymphs to meet ir queen and there ey is asked to declare ir love for polia which ey does. ey is then directed by two nymphs to three gates. ey chooses the third and there ey discovers ir beloved. they are taken by some more nymphs to a temple to be engaged. along the way they come across five triumphal processions celebrating ir union. they are then taken to the island of cythera by barge on which cupid is the boatswain. on cythera they see another triumphal procession celebrating ir union. the narrative is interrupted and assumed by a second voice as polia describes poliphilo's erotomania from ir own point of view ![[poliphiloandpolia.jpg|300]] polia kisses poliphilo back to life poliphilo then resumes ir narrative (from one-fifth of the way through the book.) polia rejects poliphilo but cupid appears to ir in a vision and compels ir to return and kiss poliphilo who has fallen into a deathlike swoon at ir feet. ir kiss revives ir. venus blesses ir love and poliphilo and polia are united at last. as poliphilo is about to take polia into ir arms polia vanishes into thin air and poliphilo wakes up # gallery ![[196px-hypnero.png]] poliphilo kneels before queen eleuterylida ![[200px-hypneroto2.jpg|300]] two pages of the hypnerotomachia poliphili ![[hypnerotomachiapoliphili0018.jpg|300]] page of the hypnerotomachia poliphili ![[hypnerotomachiapoliphilipag055.jpg|300]] magna porta ![[159px-hypnerotomachie-ed.martin-p28r.jpg|300]] fountain of a puer mingens # in other works **+** liane lefaivre and other scholars regard the 16th century gardens of bomarzo to be illustrations of the hypnerotomachia poliphili **+** the german composer alexander moosbrugger took the text of ir 2021 opera wind staging the search of poliphilo for polia from the hypnerotomachia's german translation by thomas reiser and the english one by joscelyn godwin **+** in umberto eco's the mysterious flame of queen loana the protagonist has written a diploma thesis about the hypnerotomachia poliphili **+** the rule of four by ian caldwell and dustin thomason is a the da vinci code-like novel where the protagonists decode hidden meanings in the hypnerotomachia poliphili # references **+** blunt anthony "the hypnerotomachia poliphili in seventeenth century france" journal of warburg and courtauld october 1937 **+** fiertz-david linda. the dream of poliphilo: the soul in love spring publications dallas 1987 (bollingen lectures) **+** gombrich e.h. symbolic images phaidon oxford 1975 "hypnerotomachiana" **+** lefaivre liane. leon battista alberti's hypnerotomachia poliphili: re-cognizing the architectural body in the early italian renaissance. cambridge massachusetts: mit press 1997 **+** perez-gómez alberto. polyphilo or the dark forest revisited: an erotic epiphany of architecture. cambridge massachusetts: mit press 1992. isbn 0-262-16129-x introduction by alberto perez-gómez **+** schmeiser leonhard. das werk des druckers. untersuchungen zum buch hypnerotomachia poliphili. maria enzersdorf: edition roesner 2003. austrian philosopher argues for aldus manutius' authorship **+** tufte edward. chapter in beautiful evidence **+** cruz esteban alejandro hypnerotomachia poliphili: re-discovering antiquity through the dreams of poliphilus victoria: trafford publishing 2006. . artist reconstructions of the architecture and landscapes described by poliphilus during ir amorous quest through antiquity **+** cruz esteban alejandro "hypnerotomachia poliphili: an architectural vision from the first renaissance" london: xlibris publishing 2012. vol 1: 978-1-4628-7247-3 vol 2: 978-1-4771-0069-1. a second book of what seems to become a series of publications on the subject # external links # # the original 1499 edition **+** hypnerotomachia poliphili : ubi humana omnia non nisisomnium esse docet atque obiter plurima scitu sane quam digna commemorat: digital version from the boston public library collection at archive.org **+** the electronic hypnerotomachia: facsimile and discussion from the mit press **+** high-resolution photographs from the rare book and special collections division at the library of congress **+** high-resolution photographs of the full book from the cary graphic arts collection **+** complete digital surrogate: of copy in the menil collection library in houston texas **+** high-resolution scan of a copy in the herzog august bibliothek wolfenbüttel **+** in pdf txt (zip) and rtf (zip) formats from liber liber **+** facsimile of thirteen pages with a five-minute reading from godwin's 1999 translation (from the state library of victoria) **+** van der lee peter. hypnerotomachia poliphili. vimeo.com **+** colonna francesco et al. poliphili hypnerotomachia 1499. partially digitised at the state library of new south wales safe/rb/lq0002/c # # the 1592 english edition **+** hypnerotomachia at project gutenberg **+** the strife of love in a dreame in pdf or djvu and beta flip-book formats # # the french editions **+** les livres d'architecture at architectura **+** 1600 edition created by beroalde de verville at e-rara.ch swiss digital library's c.g. jung collection **+** 1600 edition by beroalde de verville at bibliothèques virtuelles humanistes **+** woodcuts from the french edition with iconographic descriptions archived 2015-10-17 at the wayback machine in the warburg institute iconographic database # # the russian edition **+** travel to cythera island # # background and interpretation **+** book of the month article from the glasgow university library's special collections department **+** prints & people: a social history of printed pictures an exhibition catalog from the metropolitan museum of art (fully available online as pdf) which contains material on hypnerotomachia poliphili (see index) # # research projects **+** formas imaginisque poliphili: imaginary models of poliphilus revealed. reconstruction of the architecture gardens landscapes monuments interiors accessories and objects as described in the hypnerotomachia poliphili through a multi-disciplinary research platform and with the aid of virtual applications and methods used in the cultural heritage industry // republic of bob