Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

"It is hard to believe that the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, printed by Aldus Manutius in 1499, one of the most famous books in the world, read by every Renaissance intellectual and endlessly referred to in studies of art and culture ever since, has never appeared in English. One reason, no doubt, is the length and difficulty of the text. It is a strange, pagan, pedantic, erotic, allegorical, mythological romance relating in highly stylized Italian the quest of Poliphilo for his beloved Polia. The author (presumed to be Francesco Colonna, a friar of dubious reputation) was obsessed by architectu…