4. Catherine of Siena. Epistole devotissime de Sancta Catharina da Siena (1500).

In preparation at the press at the same time as the Hypnerotomachia, the Epistole devotissime of Catherine of Siena is a profoundly different work. Famous for her visions and revelations, Catherine was canonized less than a century after her death in 1380, and has been named one of Italy's patron saints. Her surviving writings consist mainly of the letters published here. Shown a woodcut illustration depicting Catherine. Lovely enough in itself, it is also of interest because it displays for the first time a few letters of Aldus's new italic typeface, which was to become famous with the publication of the 1501 Virgil.