- Bound up with:
2) Alciati, Andrea. Emblemata, V.C. Andreae Alciati Mediolanensis Iurisconsulti; Cum facili & compendiosa explicatione, qui obscura illustrantur, dubiaque omnia soluuntur, per Claudium Minoem Diuionensem. Eiusdem Alciati Vita.

Antverpiae, Ex Officina Plantiniana Balthasaris Moreti, 1648. 16mo. 392, [8, last blank] p.

Printer's mark on title and b8R and 210 woodcut emblems (58 x 58 mm), numbered 1-211 (no.62 not illustrated, only decorated with a tail piece).

Vellum laced case binding with yapp edges. Authors, titles, years and editor written in brown ink on the spine.


Ad 1) This is the 5th Latin edition, not the 4th as indicated on the title page. The edition was printed in Leiden, but some copies received an Antwerp imprint.

János Zsámboki (Sambucus, 1531-1584), a Hungarian physician who lived in Italy, Austria and France, was one of the first emblem writers. This book can be regarded, together with Alciati’s and Giovio’s emblem books, as the prototype of the genre. The first edition appeared in 1564 at Plantijn, Antwerp, with only 166 emblems. One of the dedications is to Hadrianus Junius, who published his emblem book one year later.

Brunet and Graesse point out that on page 179 a guillotine is depicted. On page 121 an early picture of a tennis match can be found (Ad pillulam). The tennisball is described as the deceiver of young men who spend all their time chasing it.

See: Max Rooses, De Plantijnsche uitgaven van Emblemata Ioannis Sambuci in ‘Tijdschrift voor boek- en bibliotheekwezen” (Antwerpen/Gent 1903, p. 3-15).

Ad 2) STCV only 1 copy (Folger Shakespeare library).
Andrea Alciatus (1492-1550) was the father of emblematic literature. His work goes back to hieroglyphic science. His Emblemata were first published in 1531 and thereafter, by some 150 other editions in many countries. This edition is a title edition of the Antwerp 1622 edition. Supposedly the monogram A, visible on several engravings, refers to the engraver Adam van Port.

In this edition appear also a lot of beautiful head and tail pieces (which are not in the edition of 1622).

Mentioning a.o. the Plantin edition of 1581 Graesse says that the monogram A on these woodcuts may refer to the engraver Adam van Port: The A is visible in woodcuts on p.15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 34, 35, 38, 39, 45, later no A any more.

- Literature:
Ad 1.) Landwehr 713S; Praz 487; Belgica Typographica 4244; Brunet V, 105; Cicognara 1952 ('bellissime tavole'); Emblem Books in Leiden 454; Graesse VI (1) 255; Voet 2172B; STCN 3 copies.

Ad 2.) Landwehr 28; This edition not in Praz; Green, Alciati 160.

- Condition:
Woodcuts of the first work not in very strong impressions. A copy on very clean paper with good impressions of the second work.