1540 BARBARO ON BLUE PAPER 1540 BARBARO ON BLUE PAPER | Page 12

The two copies of the Aldine edition
Established a precise textual configuration of the Predica dei sogni in which the author
hides his identity under the pseudonyme of PADRE D. (for Daniele) HYPNEO DA
SCHIO, the reason for this choice seems obvious. The work, a pocket-size Poliphilo is a
collection of dreams focused on love, eros and hope, with a clear spiritual intent: thus
the authors’s psudonyme HYPNEO means dream in Greek language. In Barbaro's
ideas the dream is initially intended in a poetic and fantastic way, then as a superior
and supernatural revelation. Of this text there are two editions: the undated Aldine
one, privately printed by Paolo Manutius in just two copies, and a later commercial
one printed in 1542 by Marcolini.
The Aldine edition, of which Apostolo Zeno speaks in a letter of 1723, is without
typographical notes, with 16 leaves, ends on recto of leaf D4 with word FINE. The
Marcolini commercial edition was enlarged to four extra compositions “To Madonna
Giulia Fereta”, “To God the Father”, “To God the Son”, “To the Virgin”, which
occupy the fifth quire at the end. This Aldine was compared by Renouard (265.29),
to the typographic layout LEONE EBREO Dialoghi d’amore, printed by Paolus
Manutius in 1541, and other Aldines, dating the edition between 1541-42, although
he had never seen it. It is presumed the Renouard report is derived from a
consultation of APSOTOLO ZENO Lettere or HAYM Biblioteca Italiana ossia notizia
de’ libri rari Italiani, which describes the copy.
The Aldine edition was privately printed by Paulus Manutius for the author, in two
copies: the present dedication copy and author’s copy now preserved in John Rylands
library
DEDICATION COPY: the choice to print the dedication copy on BLUE ROYAL
PAPER was to give the book unique characteristics of exclusivity. Paper analysis
showed how Paolo Manuzio used different reams, a feature common to various blue
paper Aldines we have analyzed (CENSUS and 3 and 9): colour differences between
various reams, confirm difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of blue paper for
printing. The watermark present is a anchor surrounded by a 6-point star on top and
a capital letter M at the bottom, identified as BRIQUET 531, present in North Italian
documents dated 1539/1541 which confirms Renouard dating. Prof. HARRIS
identified the paper mill of the reams from those of Riva del Garda, often used by
Paolo for the supply of material.