Poliphilus in a Wood

This print is from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published by Aldine Press, one of the foremost European printing houses at the end of the fifteenth century and throughout the sixteenth century. Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics of that time. It was a centre of classical scholarship; among the visitors to the Press was Erasmus of Rotterdam, who carefully edited texts published there.