Writing and Printing

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (; from Ancient Greek ὕπνος (hýpnos) 'sleep', ἔρως (érōs) 'love' and μάχη (máchē) 'fight'), called in English Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream or The Dream of Poliphilus, is a book attributed to the 15th-century Italian monk Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili presents a mysterious arcane allegory in which the main protagonist, Poliphilo, pursues his love, Polia, through a dreamlike landscape. In the end, he is reconciled with her by the "Fountain of Venus". 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 as a sort of graphic novel. This first edition has an elegant page layout, with refined woodcut illustrations in an Early Renaissance style. The Aldine Press issued a second edition after the death of Aldus.

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See also

• ▸Germania (book)
• ▸Bothnian Bay
• ▸Djerv

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