An emblem book is a collection of symbolic pictures along with text that explains them, such as morals or poems. These books were popular in Europe during the 1500s and 1600s.

Emblem books are made up of three parts: an image, a motto, and text that explains how the image and motto are related. The text could be short poems or longer stories. These books came from medieval bestiaries, which explained the meaning of animals, proverbs, and fables. Writers also used ideas from Greek and Roman works like Aesop's Fables and Plutarch's Lives.

Definition

Jacob Cats, Voor-reden over de Proteus, of Minne-beelden, verandert in sinne-beelden.

Scholars disagree about whether the main elements of emblems are the pictures, the text, or both. This is reasonable because the first emblem book, Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, was first published in an unauthorized version. In this version, the printer selected the woodcuts without the author’s help. The author had shared the text in manuscript form without pictures. The book included about 100 short Latin verses. One image shown was a lute, which represented the importance of peace over conflict in Italian city-states.

Some early emblem books had no pictures, especially those made by the French printer Denis de Harsy. Over time, however, readers began to expect emblem books to include both pictures and text. Each picture was paired with one or more short texts. These texts were meant to help readers think about a general moral lesson from both the image and the writing together. The pictures could have many meanings, but the text helped readers understand the author’s intended message. Because of this, these books are closely connected to personal symbolic picture-text combinations, called imprese in Italy and devises in France. Many symbols in emblem books appeared in other places, such as on clothing, furniture, street signs, and building facades. For example, a sword and scales represented death.

Miscellany

Emblem books, which can be religious or non-religious, became very popular across Europe. However, they were not as popular in Britain. These books were most common in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France. They became popular in the 1500s with Andrea Alciato's book called Emblemata and stayed popular until the 1700s.

Many emblem books used images or text from earlier books, such as Geoffrey Whitney's Choice of Emblemes, which mainly used materials from the Plantin Press in Leyden.

Early studies of Egyptian hieroglyphs, like the work of Athanasius Kircher, believed that hieroglyphs were symbols and tried to explain them in creative ways.

There is another collection of symbols called Lady Drury's Closet, but it is not in a book.

Authors and artists famous for emblem books

• Andrea Alciato (born 1492, died 1550)
• Guillaume de La Perrière (born around 1499 or 1503, died 1565)
• Georgette de Montenay (born 1540, died 1581)
• Otto van Veen (born about 1556, died 1629)
• Jacob Cats (born 1577, died 1660)
• Albert Flamen (born about 1620, died after 1669)