Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
A Bibliography

This is a working survey of material on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Use at your own risk.

We list editions of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, with some copy locations, in Italian, French, and English. We also supply some secondary sources, a list which we hope to expand with the assistance of Samten de Wet.

The secondary source material is very short; for more information, consult Volume 2, pages 47-51, of the Pozzi-Ciapponi edition listed below. Additions or corrections should be brought to the attention of William Barker.

Dr Joscelyn Godwin of the Department of Music at Colgate University has now finished the first full translation into English, published with all illustrations (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1999). I have bought my copy and it is a splendid book. I haven't yet had a chance to read Godwin's English against the hybrid dialect of the original. I see that the first reviewer of the work at amazon.com is Edward R. Tufte, the outstanding writer on design, who compliments the work generously.

One item not given below, but of great interest, is Charles Nodier's late work Franciscus Columna. Nodier (1780-1844) wrote extensively on books and printing and had a fine eye for design -- and the bizarre.

The Rutgers University site devoted to the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is closed down. But there is a fascinating site devoted to the images and organization of the text, prepared by the Design Knowledge Systems Group at the Technical University of Delft. There are two sites, one in Delft and a mirror site at MIT Press. There is also information about Aldus Manutius, the printer, at Simon Fraser University.

A / Editions

Italian

1499
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ubi humana omnia nisi somnium esse docet Venice: Aldus 1499 [Electronic version available from MIT Press and the Design Knowledge Systems Group at the Technical University of Delft; copy location not given]

References: Hain-Copinger 5501*; Marie Pellechet Catalogue général des incunables des bibliothèques publiques de France (Paris 1897-1909) 3867; Polain (B) 1126; Victor Masséna, Prince d'Essling Les livres à figures vénitiens de la fin du XVe siècle et du commencement du XVIe 4 vols (Florence 1907-14) 1198; Sander 2056; J.C.T. Oates A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in the University Library of Cambridge (Cambridge 1954) 2192; IGI 3062; Pr 5574; BMC 5:561 (IB 24500); Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke 7223; Frederick R. Goff Incunabula in American Libraries: A Third Census of Fifteenth-Century Books Recorded in North American Collections (New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1964) C-767 North American locations (from Goff): Bryn Mawr PA, Bryn Mawr College; Boston PL; Williams College; Pforzheimer; New York Columbia U, Avery L; Washington DC Cosmos Club; Hanover NH Dartmouth College; Camarillo CA St John's Seminary; Cambridge Mass Harvard College Library (2); San Marino Huntington; Indiana UL; Boston Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Washington Library of Congress (2); Montreal McGill UL; Boston Museum of Fine Arts (2); Milwaukee PL; New York Metropolitan Museum of Arts Department of Prints; Chicago Newberry Library; New York PL: New York PL Spencer Collection (vellum); Baltimore Peabody Institute; New York Pierpont Morgan Library (2); Princeton UL (2, 1-); Pittsburgh Carnegie Institute of Technology; Dallas Southern Methodist UL; Stanford UL; Berkeley, U of California (2); Los Angeles U of California; Urbana U of Illinois L; Lawrence University of Kansas Library; Chapel Hill U of North Carolina; Charlottesville, University of Virginia, Alderman Library; Charlottesville, University of Virginia, McGregor Library; Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery; Middletown Conn Wesleyan UL; New Haven Conn Yale UL (3) Goff private owners in 1964: BGO; BPen, CJR, CSS, CTC, FJj, FK, HAWj, [HPK], HPo, JHSch, JKW (-), JMCj, [LCH] (-), LHS, MSC, NHS, PH, PM, RE, VBG, WT (-)

References: Index Aureliensis *143.132 Locations: Berlin SB; Cambridge Trinity College (Adams C2414); Chicago Newberry; Edinburgh National Library; Harvard College Library (Mortimer 131); London British Library (2); Milano BT; New York Public Library; Paris BibliothŠque Nationale; Wellesley College; Wien NB; Wolfenbttel HB

1893
Fresh edition of the preceding, London: W. Griggs, 1893.

1901
[Facsimile of 1499] London: Methuen 1901 and 1904

1963
[Facsimile of 1499] Painter, George The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of 1499: An Introduction to the Dream, the Dreamer, the Artist and the Printer 2 vols. London: Eugrammia Press 1963

1963
[Facsimile of 1499] Farnborough: Gregg International, 1963

1968
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ed Giovanni Pozzi and Lucia A. Ciapponi. 2 vols. Padova: Editrice Antenore, 1980 [first published 1968]. (Edition with full commentary and bibliography.)

The following were used in the Pozzi-Ciapponi edition, where the variants are listed (insert, vol 2, between pp. 36-7): Berlin Deutsche Staatsbibliothek; Chapel Hill; Marburg Westdeutsche Bibliothek; Milano Biblioteca Bridense (2); Paris Arsenal; Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Réserve (2); Paris Bibliothèque Mazarine (2); Venice Fond. Cini; Venice Bibl. Marciana; Verona Bibl. Com.

References: Index Aureliensis *143.133 Locations: Boston PL; Bruxelles BR; Cleveland PL; Edinburgh NL; Grenoble BM; Harvard College Library; Lille BM; London BL; Nantes BM; New York PL; Oxford Bodleian; Paris BN; Paris Ste Genevieve; Rennes BM; San Marino Huntington; Wien NB; Yale

References: Index Aureliensis *143.134 Locations: London BL; Paris BN

References: Index Aureliensis *143.135 Locations: Cambridge UL (Adams C2413); Edinburgh NL; London BL; New York PL; Paris BN (2); Santiago BU; Wien NB; Wolfenbüttel HB

References: Index Aureliensis *143.139 Locations: Aberystwyth NL; London BL (2); Paris BN (several); Paris Arsenale; Wien NB

1772
[Reported translation]

1804
Songe de Poliphile, traduction libre de l'italien, par G.J. Legrand, architecte des monuments publics et membre de plusiers sociétés savantes et litéraires 2 vols. Paris: P. Didot l'Ainé, An XIII.=M.DCCCIV.

1811
Fresh edition of preceding, Parma: Bodoni 1811

1883
Le songe de Poliphile ou hypnerotomachie de frère Francesco Colonna litéralement traduit pour la première fois, avec une introduction et des notes, par Claudius Popelin Figures sur bois gravées à nouveau par A. Prunaire. 2 vols. Paris, Isidore Liseux éditeur 1883. Rpt Genève: Slatkine 1971

1926
Reprint of 1561 edition, ed. Bertram Guégan. Paris: Payot 1926 Hypnérotomachie, ou discours du songe de Poliphile, déduisant comme Amour le combat à l'occasion de Polia. Traduit de language italien en français par Jean Martin et Jacques Gohorry, et décoré de dessins de Mantegna gravés sur bois par Jean Cousin et Jean Goujon. Publié par Bertrand Guégan, d'après l'édition Kerver. Paris: Payot 1926

1963
[Small facsimile of Paris 1546], with preface by Albert- Marie Schmidt. [Paris]: Club des Libraires de France 1963

English

References: STC 5577. STC 5578 is a second variant, printed for W. Holme. STC 5578.2 is a third variant, printed for J. Busbie. STC divides the printing up as follows. Jeffes quires B, D, F, H, I, L, O, R; Charlewood quires A, C, X-Z; and Eliot's Court Press quires Aa-Cc. Locations: 5577: London BL; Oxford Bodleian; Longleat; San Marino Huntington; Washington Folger SL (frag). 5578: London BL (frag of tp only); Oxford Bodleian; Washington Library of Congress. 5578.2: Cambridge Mass Harvard; Oxford Worcester College.

1969
[Facsimile of 1592 edition, Bodleian copy] Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; New York: Da Capo Press 1969 [The English Experience 87]

1973
[Facsimile of 1592 edition] Ed Lucy Gent. Delmar, NY: Scholars' Reprints and Facsimiles 1973

1976
[Facsimile of 1592 edition] New York: Garland 1976

1999
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream. The Entire Text Translated for the First Time in English with an Introduction by Joscelyn Godwin. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1999.

B / Commentary

Barolini, Helen Aldus and his Dream Book: An Illustrated Essay . New York: Italica Press, 1992.

Baschet, Armand Aldo Manuzio: Lettres et documents Venice: Antonelli 1867

Bühler, Curt F. "Aldus Manutius" Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 44 (1950) 210

-- "Newly Discovered Variant Settings in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" Festschrift für Claus Nissan zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, 2 september 1971 Wiesbaden 1973, 36-42

-- "Variant Copies of the 1499 Poliphilus" Bulletin of the New York Public Library 36 (June 1932) 475-86

Calvesi, Maurizio Il sogno di Polifilo prenestino Roma: Officina Edizioni 1980

Casella, M.T., and G. Pozzi Francesco Colonna Biografia e opere . 2 vols. Padova: Editrice Antenore, 1959 [Vol 1, biography, is by Maria Teresa Casella and vol 2, opere , is by Giovanni Pozzi.]

Ferrigni, Mario Aldo Manuzio Milan: Alpes 1925

Fierz-David, Linda The Dream of Poliphilo Trans Mary Hottinger. New York: Pantheon 1950

Firmin-Didot, Ambroise Alde Manuce et l'hellenisme à Venise 1875

Fletcher, Harry George New Aldine Studies: Documentary Essays on the Life and Works of Aldus Manutius San Francisco: Bernard M. Rosenthal 1988

Gerulaitis, Leonardas Printing and Publishing in Fifteenth-Century Venice Chicago: American Library Association 1976

-- "The Venetian Incunabula: Printers and Readers" PhD diss University of Michigan 1969

Hieatt, Kent, and Anne Lake Prescott "Contemporizing Antiquity: The Hypnerotomachia and Its Afterlife in France" Word and Image 8 (1992)

Kretzulesco-Quaranta, Emanuela Les jardins du songe: "Poliphile" et la mystique de la Renaissance . 2nd ed. Paris: Société d'Edition "Les Belles Lettres" 1986

Lefaivre, Liane Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: Re-Configuring the Architectural Body in the Early Italian Renaissance Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1997 [There is a Web site dedicated to Lefaivre's book; a good place to start is with the synopsis of what is a controversial thesis -- that Alberti was the author.]

Lemke, Antje Aldus Manutius and his "Thesaurus cornucopiae" of 1496 Syracuse: Syracuse UP 1958 (with translation of Aldo's preface)

Lowry, Martin J. The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice Oxford: Blackwell 1979

Mardersteig, Giovanni "Osservazioni tipografiche sul Polifilo nelle edizioni del 1499 e 1545" Contributi alla storia del libro italiano. Miscellanea in onore di Lamberto Donati Florence 1969, pp. 221-42.

Mitchell, Charles "Archaeology and Romance in Renaissance Italy" Italian Renaissance Studies ed E.F. Jacob. London: Faber & Faber 1960

Nolhac, Pierre de Les Correspondents de Alde Manuce 1887-8

Painter, George The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of 1499: An Introduction to the Dream, the Dreamer, the Artist and the Printer 2 vols. London: Eugrammia Press 1963

Pérez Gómez, Alberto Polyphilo or the Dark Forest Revisited: An Erotic Epiphany of Architecture London & Cambridge Mass: MIT Press 1992

Poppelreuter, Jos. Der Anonyme Meister des Poliphilo. Eine Studie zur italienischen Buchillustration und zur Antike in der Kunst des Quattrocento Strassburg: J.H. Ed. Heitz (Heitz & Mündel) 1904

Pozzi, Giovanni. "Les Hieroglyphes de l'Hyperotomachia Poliphili" 15-27 in Yves Giraud, ed., L'Emblème à la Renaissance. Paris: Société d'Edition d'Enseignement Supérieur, 1980

Renouard, Antoine Auguste Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde Paris: J. Renouard 1834

Robertson, Edward Aldus Manutius: The Scholar Printer, 1450-1515 Manchester: Manchester UP 1950

Schmidt, Dorothea Untersuchungen zu den Architekturphrasen in der Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: Die Beschreibung des Venus-Tempels . Frankfurt am Main: R.G. Fischer 1978

Stewering, Roswitha. Architektur und Natur in der "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" (Manutius 1499) und die Zuschreibung des Werkes an Niccolò Lelio Cosmico Hamburg: Lit 1996 [A thesis from Hamburg, some 600 pages in length, with illustrations.]

Szepe, Helena "Artistic Identity in the Poliphilo" Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, 35.1 (Spring 1997) 39-73

--- "Desire in the Printed Dream of Poliphilo," Art History 19.3 (September 1996) 370-392 [This and the preceding based on the author's 1991 Cornell University dissertation.]

Wallace, Nathaniel "Architextual Poetics: The Hypnerotomachia and the Rise of the European Emblem" Emblematica 8.1 (1994 [= 1996]) 1-27

Wilson, Dudley " The Strife of Love in a Dreame , an Elizabethan Translation of Part of the First Book of Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia" Bulletin for the Society for Renaissance Studies 4.1 (April 1986) 41-53

Wind, Edgar Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance Harmondsworth: Penguin 1967

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Last modified 5 February 2000