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ANDREA ALCIATI (1492-1550)
Declaración Magistral sobre
las Emblemas de Andres Alciato.
Valencia, Jerónimo Vilagrasa,
1670.
Originally published in Latin under the title Emblematum
Liber at Augsburg in 1531, Alciati's work became perhaps the most
widely used and admired of the emblem books produced during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, and was translated into French, Italian, and
Spanish. Under the influences of Egyptian hieroglyphs, viewed as
ideographs, Alciati was the first to fully develop emblems, defined by
Mario Praz as "things (representations of objects) which illustrate a
conceit." Accordingly, Alciati's emblem books are collections of short
verses containing moral reflections, each illustrated by an emblem, or
hieroglyph. Many of these verses are translations from the Planudean
Anthology, others are derived from Pliny, Stobaeus, and Pausanias. In
this edition of 1670 the verses, in Latin, are accompanied by poorly
executed wood and copper engravings of an unknown artist. Appended to
each emblem are extensive notes in Spanish by Diego López (d.
1655), a schoolmaster at Toro, Spain, whose edition of Alciati first
appeared at Najera in 1615. (Green 167; NUC 7:501 (NA 0147391); Palau
7:610)
JACOB BOSCH (fl. 1701)
Symbolographia, sive De Arte Symbolica
Sermones Septem.
Augsburg, Johan Kaspar Bencard,
1702.
Prominent among the producers of emblem and device books
were members of the various religious orders. A device has been defined
by Mario Praz as "a symbolical representation of a purpose, a wish, a
line of conduct...by means of a motto and picture which reciprocally
interpret each other." In Symbolographia the Jesuit Bosch produced
a work dealing with the entire range of hieroglyphic devices, portraying
religious, heroic, moral, and character-of-life themes. Preceding each
group of devices are short explanatory notations concerning the
allegorical symbolism employed. Included are 2052 devices, engraved by
Johan Georg wolfgang and Jacob Müller. First published in 1701, this
issue includes an engraved portrait of Karl, Archduke of Austria
(1685-1740), later Emperor Karl VI, to whom the work is dedicated.
(Landwehr (G) 144; NUC 67:564 (NB 0661941))
B. DELACHENAYE (fl. 1811)
Abécédaire de Flore;
ou, Langage des Fleurs.
Paris, Imprimerie de P. Didot l'Aine,
1811.
In this work, Delachénaye offers his reader an
alphabet of flowers. By substituting flowers, most of whose names begin
with sucessive letters of the alphabet, for various individual letters,
one would have, he claims, an appropriate visual alphabet to represent,
or symbolize beautiful thoughts and words. Appended to the main work are
three sections containing descriptions of flowers and birds, followed by
a brief essay on the symbolic use of flowers in emblems and devices. (NUC
137:291 (ND 0131144))
HENRY ESTIENNE, SIEUR DES FOSSEZ (17th cent.)
The Art of Making
Devices.
London, Richard Marriot, 1646.
Estienne's work first
appeared in French at Paris in 1645. Dealing primarily with the theory of
devices, Art discusses their design, their relationship to
emblems, and the common derivation of both from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The
appearance of Estienne's work in a translation by Thomas Blount
(1618-1679) reflects a widespread taste for device and emblem literature
in England, despite the genre's failure to flourish there. Its poor
engravings reflect the imitativecharacter of the illustrations used in
many seventeenth century British books of emblems and devices. (Galland
p. 61; NUC 162:608 (NE 0180327); Praz p. 330; Wing E33500)
HORAPOLLO (4th cent. A.D.?)
Hieroglyphica Graece &
Latine.
Utrecht, Melchior. Léonard Charlois, 1727.
Horapollo'sHieroglyphica began a fashion for Egyptian hieroglyphs whose
influence continued well into the eighteenth century. The Greek text,
said to have been translated from an Egyptian original by a certain
Philippus, otherwise unknown, was first published in an edition of Aesop
printed at Venice in 1505 by Aldo Pio Manuzio. A Latin translation
appeared at Augsburg in 1515, and numerous editions followed. This
edition of 1727 contains both the Greek and Latin texts, and includes
commentaries by Jean Mercier (d. 1570), David Hoeshel (1556-1617), and
Nicolas Caussin (1583-1651), author of Symbolica Aegyptiorum
Sapienia (Cologne, 1522). This copy bears the signed
autograph presentation of the editor, Johannes Cornelius de Pauw (d.
1749).Horapollo's work, in essence, is an explanation of
Egyptian hieroglyphs interpreted as visual forms of abstract ideas, in
other words, as emblems. Although the work of Jean François
Champollion (1790-1832) and later writers has shown this view to be in
error, nevertheless, at least thirteen of Horapollo's hieroglyphs are
known to be correct. Horapollo's work also had its influence on letter
forms. As George Boas has pointed out, Geofroy Tory, whose Champ
Fleury appeared in Paris in 1529, views the shape of letters as
having a mystical meaning, a view taken by Tory from Horapollo and passed
on by him to François Rabelais (1490-1553). (NUC 254:484 (NH
0517745); Praz p. 374)
HRABANUS MAURUS, ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ (784?-856)
De Laudib[us]
Sancte Crucis Opus.
Pforzheim, Thomas Anshelm, 1503.
This somewhat remarkable book is the first edition of
the author's poem "In Praise of the Holy Cross." The piece is printed as a
figure poem, that is, a poem over which are superimposed a variety of
figures. These include Christ Crucified, evangelistic symbols, cherubim,
and King Louis the Pious of France. Some pages were printed entirely from
movable type. In more complicated instances, the entire page is cut with
its figures on wood in imitation of type. In still other cases, the
letters immediately surrounding the figure are cut on the block, while the
remaining area of the page is filled in with movable type. Although figure
poems were common in manuscripts, the De Laudibus Sancte Crucis is
the first instance of this form of symbolic poetry to appear in printed
form. Included in the work are several neo-Latin poems by Johann Reuchlin
(1455-1522), Sebastian Brant (1458-1521), and other humanists. (Adams R3;
Murray 350; NUC 257:463 (NH 0566875-78))
GIOVANNI DE RINALDI (fl. 1584-1599)
Il Mostrvosissimi
Mostro.
Venice, Lucio Spineda, 1599.
First published at Ferrara in 1584, Rinaldi's work also appeared under the title Il Vago, et Dilettevole,
Giardino (Pavia, 1593). The two parts of this work deal with the
iconology of colors, and the symbolism of herbs and flowers. Rinaldi aims
at teaching the manner of explicating emblems and allegories. Bound with
this copy are two similar works by Pellegrino Morato and Sicile. The
Significato dei Colori e de' Mazzoli (Venice, 1599) of Fulvio
Pellegrino Morato deals with the symbolism of flowers and colors. The
Trattato dei Colori delle Arme nelle Livree et nelle Divise
(Venice, 1599) of Sicile, herald to Alphonso V, Kind of Aragon, deals
with color symbolism in heraldry. (Graesse VI:125)
GIOVANNI PIERO VALERIANO BOLZANI (1477-1558?)
Hieroglyphica,
sev De Sacris Aegyptiorvm, Aliavmqve Gentivm Literis Commentarii.
Lyons, Thomas Soubron, 1594.
Originally published at Basel in 1556, and
dedicated to Cosimo de'Medici (1519-1574), Hieroglyphica is the
first modern study of Egyptian hieroglyphs. In the humanist tradition of
Alciati, Valeriano brings together the allegorical symbolism of mediaeval
bestiaries and the symbolic approach to Egyptian writing. While drawing
on Horapollo, Valeriano views his own Hieroglyphica as a
supplement to and improvement of that author. Thus, like Horapollo, he
endeavors to explain Egyptian hieroglyphs as abstract concepts in visual
form, as pictorial symbols revealing divine truths. At the same time,
Valeriano attempts to explain other pagan mysteries, and therefore
collates a wide variety of passages from ancient authors which deal with
visual symbolism. However, Hieroglyphica is more often marked by
the erudition and imagination of its author than by sound judgment, and
its chief weakness is Valeriano's Neoplatonist insistence on drawing a
wholly consistent allegorical interpretation of all ancient mythology.
This particular edition includes notes by Celio Agostino Curione
(1538-1567). (Baudrier IV:357)
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