{{Short description|1531 German book of emblems}} {{italic title}} {{For|the 17th century ''Emblemata'' by Johan de Brune|Emblemata of Zinne-werck}} {{More citations needed|date=May 2021}} [[Image:Book of Emblems1531.gif|right|thumb|Title page of the book ''Emblematum liber'' by Andrea Alciato (1531)]] The '''''Emblemata''''', or '''''Emblematum liber''''' first appeared in Augsburg (Germany) in 1531 under the title ''Viri Clarissimi D. Andreae Alciati Iurisconsultiss. Mediol. Ad D. Chonradum Peutingerum Augustanum, Iurisconsultum Emblematum Liber''. Produced by the publisher Heinrich Steyner, the unauthorized first print edition was compiled from a manuscript of Latin poems which the Italian jurist Andrea Alciato had dedicated to his friend Conrad Peutinger and circulated to his acquaintances. The 1531 edition was soon followed by a 1534 edition authorized by Alciato: published in Paris by Christian Wechel, this appeared under the title ''Andreae Alciati Emblematum Libellus'' ("''Andrea Alciato's Little Book of Emblems''").<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Alciat |first=André |title=A book of emblems: the Emblematum liber in Latin and English |last2=Moffitt |first2=John Francis |date=2004 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1807-7 |location=Jefferson (N.C)}}</ref> The word "emblemata" is the plural of the Greek word ἔμβλημα, meaning a piece of inlay or mosaic, or an ornament: in his preface to Peutinger, Alciato describes his emblems as a learned recreation, a pastime for humanists steeped in classical culture.
The first version of Alciati's emblem-book contained 104 emblems without illustrations. It was Steyner who made the crucial decision that each emblem should be illustrated, and Steyner then commissioned the engravings from an artist named Jörg Breu. The success of the ''Emblematum liber'' was immediate.<ref name=":0" />
The ''Emblemata'' soon grew to include over 200 individual emblems and appeared in hundreds of editions, of which probably the best known is that published in Padua by Tozzi in 1621, the ''Emblemata Cum Commentariis Amplissimis''. The "very full commentaries" to which the title refers were written by the French scholar Claude Mignault. Alciato's work spawned thousands of imitations in all the European vernacular languages: secular, religious, or amorous in nature, emblem books were an integral part of European culture for two centuries.
The preface reads in part (translated):<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alciati |first1=Andrea|title=Emblematum liber|date=1531|publisher=Heynricus Steynerus|location=Augsburg (Feb. 28, 1531)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cFcAAAAcAAJ|page=A2 recto}}</ref>
''Dum pueros iuglans, iuvenes dum tessera fallit, Detinet et segnes chartula picta viros. Haec nos festivis emblemata cudimus horis, Artificum illustri signaque facta manu. Vestibus ut torulos, petasis ut figere parmas, Et valeat tacitis scribere quisque notis. At tibi supremus pretiosa nomismata Caesar, Et veterum eximias donet habere manus. Ipse dabo vati, chartacea munera vates, Quae Chonrade mei pignus amoris habe.''
''While boys are entertained by nuts and youths by dice, so playing-cards fill up the time of lazy men. In the festive season we hammer out these emblems, made by the distinguished hand of craftsmen. Just as one affixes trimmings to clothes and badges to hats, so it behooves every one of us to write in silent marks. Though the supreme emperor may give to you, for you to own, precious coins and finest objects of the ancients, I myself shall give, one poet to another, paper gifts: take these, Konrad, the token of my love.''
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last1=Alciati|first1=Andrea|author-link1=Andrea Alciati|editor1-last=Moffitt|editor1-first=John F.|title=A Book of Emblems: The Emblematum Liber in Latin and English|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=0786418079}} * {{cite book|last1=Moffitt|first1=John F.|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nKuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|title=A Book of Emblems: The Emblematum Liber in Latin and English|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=0786418079}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Alciato's Book of Emblems}} *[https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/ Alciato at Glasgow] - 22 editions of Alciato from 1531 to 1621, housed at Glasgow University *[https://afgw.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/emblem.html The Pennsylvania State University English Emblem Book Project]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[https://www.mun.ca/alciato/index.html The Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada)] - concise description and texts about Alciato's Book of Emblems *[http://www.levity.com/alchemy/atalanta.html Atalanta fugiens (1617)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907170425/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/atalanta.html |date=2022-09-07 }} - A German/Latin emblem book of 50 alchemical concepts, also containing musical fugues, by Michael Maier *[https://archive.org/details/devisesetembleme00lafeu Devises et emblemes anciennes & modernes (1699)] - Emblem book with motto (superscriptio) in German, French, Latin, and Italian
== References == {{reflist}}
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Category:1531 books Category:Emblem books