[Book of the XVIth century]. COLONNA (Francesco).... - Lot 15 - Chayette & Cheval

Lot 15
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[Book of the XVIth century]. COLONNA (Francesco).... - Lot 15 - Chayette & Cheval
[Book of the XVIth century]. COLONNA (Francesco). Hypnerotomachy, or Discourse of the dream of Poliphile, deducing as love the fight on the occasion of Polia. Soubz la fiction de quoy l'aucteur monstrant que toutes choses terrestres ne sont que vanité, traicté de plusieurs matières profitables, dignes de mémoire. In Paris, for Jaques Kerver, 1554. folio, [5 (of 6)] f., 156 [of 158] f., fig., contemporary fawn morocco, boards richly decorated with fillet and roulette in frames, azure foliage and spandrels at the corners, coat of arms in the center with a nominative inscription, surrounded by a wide border decorated with scrolls and cherubs' heads in small irons. Binding restored, spine replaced in imitation adorned with azure foliage, 36 blank leaves bound in at the end, endpapers renewed (missing leaves a4 (between preface and table), Cc1 (f. 151) and the last one with Kerver's mark; small tears and paper losses in a few margins (including the title), a few pen and signature tests on a few leaves; title restored, stains and soiling not serious). Second edition in French of one of the most famous works of the 16th century. It will have a significant influence on the aesthetics of its time, both in the field of books and decorative arts. The illustration, inspired by the School of Fontainebleau, is composed, in addition to the numerous ornate letters, of a title engraved in a frame and 181 woodcut figures, 13 of which are full-page. It is a free interpretation of the compositions of the Aldine edition of 1499. It is traditional to attribute these illustrations to Jean Goujon. "The reprinting in 1554 by the printer Kerver of Jean Martin's translation of Le Songe de Poliphile, which had first appeared in 1546, sealed a success, and fueled the definitive fate of the work. This reprint is linked to the success of the translation which "naturalized" Poliphile and acclimatized him to French taste. It is a sign that his reading has become a classic, and that Colonna's figures have entered fully into the imagination: they feed the royal entries, slip into the pages of Rabelais or lend themselves to alchemical interpretations that are undoubtedly forced in relation to the original intentions of the work [...]". (M. Furno, 2009, online notice on http://architectura.cesr.univ-tours.fr/). The copy is distinguished by its interesting and very rare provenance, indicated by the binding of the time in the name of "Pierre Rogier, escuier Sr de Migné, conseiller du roy, magistrat à Poitiers". He is the author of a map of Poitou first published in 1575, which will be copied and reproduced for more than 60 years in particular by Ortelius, Jean Leclerc, G. Mercator and Maurice Bouguereau. Lord of Migné, counselor of the Presidial of Poitiers, Pierre Rogier was also lieutenant of the Sénéchaussée of Melle. Old manuscript bookplate Allard, with various pen tests on several ff. (57, 93, 119, 120, 132, 135, 146). On the title, a handwritten note attributes the translation to Béroalde, and adds "ce livre regarde la pierre philosophale". (USTC 12614).
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