Hyperotomachia poliphili: the strife of love in a dream - Hardcover

'Joscelyn Godwin, whose translation is a masterpiece of clarity and scholarship, has achieved something truly remarkable with this beautiful edition. It is unquestionably one of the publishing events not just of the year but of the century' - Andrew Graham-Dixon, The Daily Telegraph 'A mammoth task of inestimable value, carried out with learning, elegance and wit' - International Herald Tribune 'An extraordinary and exceptional book' - The Architects' Journal 'Adds a fresh dimension to our understanding of the Renaissance' - The Times 'Joscelyn Godwin has proven that a desiccated rose can not only live again, but may also, with the help of fantasy, grow vivid as never before' - The New York Review of Books 'Should undoubtedly find a place in every serious English-speaking academic library' - The Art Book

Exactly 500 years after its first publication, by the great Venetian publishing house of Aldus Manutius, Francesco Colonna's weird, erotic, allegorical antiquarian tale, "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili", was translated into English and reprinted in full, together with all of its 174 original woodcut illustrations. It has been called the first "stream of consciousness" novel and was one of the most important documents of Renaissance imagination and fantasy. The author - presumed to be a friar of dubious reputation - was obsessed by architecture, landscape and costume (it is not going to far to say sexually obsessed) and its woodcuts are a primary source for Renaissance ideas on both buildings and plants. This translation was first published in 1999 in a facsimile format. This new edition reproduces everything about one third smaller, retaining all the text and illustrations, and is easy to handle and read.