Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Ben Jonson (1572-1637), the English playwright and poet, annotated the British Library copy of the HP (C.60.o.12, the 1545 edition). Russell identifies Jonson as Hand A in this copy, noting that Jonson mined the HP for stage design imagery and architectural vocabulary. Jonson's annotations represent a theatrical and literary mode of reading distinct from the alchemical annotations of the copy's other hand.