Description:
Thames & Hudson, 2003 8vo (23.5 cm), XX, 476 pp. Publisher's cloth and dust jacket, silk bookmark (bookplate and collector's blind stamp bottom of the title). 500 years anniversary edition of the famous and mysterious book printed in 1499 by the great Venetian publishing house of Aldus Manutius. Francesco Colonna's weird, erotic, allegorical antiquarian tale 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. 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,…
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