Emblemata Cum Commentariis Amplissimis – Andrea Alciato

Emblemata Cum Commentariis Amplissimis. By Andrea Alciato. Padua: Paolo Frambotti, 1661.

Vellum bound, five panel banded spine. Ex libris sticker at front pastedown, some previous owner pencil markings at front pastedown and free endpaper. The word “emblemata” is simply the plural of the Greek word “emblema”, 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 Emblemata 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.