# Emblem Book (Motto, Picture & Epigram)

> A European book genre in which, from Chrestien Wechel's Paris edition of 1534 on, every page or opening repeats one fixed unit: a short motto, an allegorical picture and an explanatory verse, which only together yield a moral, amorous or religious meaning. It began with Andrea Alciato's Emblematum liber (Augsburg, 1531), whose emblems still ran on continuously, and moved from small framed woodcuts set in humanist roman and italic to engravings, from Bocchi's Bologna book of 1555 to the full-page copperplates of 17th-century Dutch, Flemish and Jesuit books.

- Period: 1531–1724
- Where: Southern Europe, Central Europe, Western Europe
- Origin: Augsburg, where Heinrich Steyner printed the Latin epigrams of the jurist Andrea Alciato (1492–1550), born near Milan, with woodcuts as the Emblematum liber in 1531; developed in Paris and Lyon, engraved in Bologna by 1555, then in Antwerp, Leiden and Amsterdam, with English emblem books by Geoffrey Whitney and Francis Quarles
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Emblemata, Renaissance emblem, Emblem literature
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/emblem-book/

## How it works

- Build every page or opening from the same unit, usually in three parts (motto above, framed picture in the middle, verse below), and repeat it through the whole book; some French books, such as La Perrière's, drop the motto and set picture and verse on facing pages.
- Make the picture a compact allegorical sign that cannot be read on its own; let the meaning arise only when motto, image and verse are read together, like a riddle.
- Centre the whole emblem on the page and hold the picture in a ruled frame, or enclose the entire unit in an architectural or grotesque woodcut border.
- Set mottoes and running heads in letterspaced humanist roman capitals or in italic and the epigram in italic, indenting alternate lines of verse, black on paper.
- Draw the picture as a line image: a small woodcut sign in the early books, a full-page copper engraving with landscape depth and modelled figures in the later ones.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (defining)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (characteristic)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Humanist & Garalde serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/humanist-and-garalde-serif/) (defining)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)
- [Wide letterspacing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/wide-letterspacing/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)

### Form & shape
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (characteristic)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (defining)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (occasional)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (occasional)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (occasional)

Avoids: Typography only, Non-representational, Full bleed, Dynamic asymmetry, Flat hierarchy, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Full polychrome

Palette: #f2ead7, #1a1714, #5f5a52, #8a6a45, #c9b48f

Typefaces: Letterspaced roman capitals for the mottoes of Steyner's 1531 Augsburg edition, as 'REVERENTIAM IN MATRIMONIO REQVIRI', broken over two centred lines above the woodcut, with the couplets in italic below, alternate lines indented, Humanist roman capitals for running heads and the commonplace headings that group the emblems, as 'DEVS, SIVE RELIGIO.' over the framed emblems of Bonhomme's 1550 Lyon Emblemata, Italic for mottoes and epigrams, the elegiac couplets set with every second line indented, as in Wechel's 1534 Paris Emblematum libellus, and Montenay's eight-line verses in 'an elegant and well-spaced italic', Mottoes engraved into the copperplate in italic beneath or within the picture, with a Scripture reference and the plate number, as in Bolswert's plates for Hugo's Pia desideria (1624)

Known for: Andrea Alciato, Emblematum liber (Heinrich Steyner, Augsburg, 28 February 1531): 104 emblems, 97 of them with woodcuts believed to be by Hans Schäufelein after designs by Jörg Breu; the emblems run on continuously, sometimes two cuts to a page, with mottoes in letterspaced roman capitals; Alciato, Emblematum libellus (Chrestien Wechel, Paris, 1534): 113 emblems, each starting on a fresh page with motto, woodcut and verse, the edition that 'set the standard for clear presentation of emblems'; Guillaume de La Perrière, Le theatre des bons engins (Denis Janot, Paris; written by 1536, first published early 1540): picture and ten-line verse on facing pages, both enclosed in ornate frames, with no moralising titles (mottoes) in Janot's editions; Alciato, Emblemata (Macé Bonhomme for Guillaume Rouille, Lyon, 1550): 211 emblems with a new set of woodcuts attributed to Pierre Eskrich (or Vase), each enclosed in an elaborate frame; Achille Bocchi, Symbolicae quaestiones (Symbolicarum quaestionum de universo genere libri quinque; Nova Academia Bocchiana, Bologna, 1555): an Italian emblem book with 150 small emblematic engravings by Giulio Bonasone; Georgette de Montenay, Emblemes ou devises chrestiennes (Lyon, 1567, reissued 1571): illustrated with Pierre Woeiriot's engravings rather than woodcuts (the Glasgow emblem site calls it the first emblem book to do so, but Bocchi's engraved Bologna book of 1555 came earlier), with its verse in a well-spaced italic; Geoffrey Whitney, A Choice of Emblemes (Plantin Press, Leiden, 1586): 248 emblems, 202 of the woodcuts drawn from the Plantin stock; Otto van Veen (Vaenius), Amorum emblemata (Antwerp, 1608): 124 love emblems in polyglot editions

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Renaissance Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/renaissance-book.md) (c. 1460–1600)
- Influenced by: [European Heraldry](https://stylogeny.com/styles/european-heraldry.md) (c. 1140–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Mexican Popular Graphics (Posada)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-popular-graphics.md) (1880–1917), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [German Book Art Movement (Buchkunstbewegung)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/buchkunstbewegung.md) (1895–1933), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Literatura de Cordel Woodcut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cordel-woodcut.md) (1940–present), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Imagerie d'Épinal & European Bilderbogen](https://stylogeny.com/styles/imagerie-epinal.md) (1796–1939), 59% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mir iskusstva Book Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mir-iskusstva.md) (1898–1927), 55% alike

## Sources

- Glasgow University Emblem Website, Alciato at Glasgow, edition pages: Emblematum liber (Steyner, Augsburg, 28 February 1531; 104 emblems, 97 woodcuts attributed to Hans Schäufelein after Jörg Breu; 'no attempt is made to establish the kind of logical arrangement' of motto, pictura and subscriptio on the page; Alciato born at Alzate near Milan, a legal scholar): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/books.php?id=A31a ; Emblematum libellus (Wechel, Paris, 1534; 113 emblems, each on a fresh page as motto, pictura and subscriptio): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/books.php?id=A34b ; Emblemata (Bonhomme for Rouille, Lyon, 1550; 211 emblems, new woodcuts attributed to Pierre Eskrich or Vase, elaborate frames): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/books.php?id=A50a
- Glasgow University Emblem Website, Alciato at Glasgow, facsimile pages examined for layout and type: Augsburg 1531, A5v (two woodcuts on one page, one emblem's italic couplets above the next emblem's letterspaced roman-capital motto 'REVERENTIAM IN MATRIMONIO REQVIRI' and its cut): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/facsimile.php?id=sm18_A5v ; Paris 1534, A6v (italic motto, ruled woodcut frame, italic couplets): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/facsimile.php?id=sm53_A6v ; Lyon 1550, A7v (architectural woodcut frame round the whole emblem, roman capitals heading): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/facsimile.php?id=sm265_A7v ; emblem 1 of the 1550 edition, the arms of the Duchy of Milan: https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/emblem.php?id=A50a001
- Glasgow University Emblem Website, French Emblems at Glasgow: Georgette de Montenay, Emblemes ou devises chrestiennes (1567/1571; 'the first emblem book to use incised engravings (by Pierre Woeiriot) rather than woodcuts', a claim Bocchi's 1555 book contradicts; verse in 'an elegant and well-spaced italic'): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/books.php?id=FMOa ; Guillaume de La Perrière, Le theatre des bons engins (completed 1536, 'first edition was published early in 1540' by Denis Janot; each emblem on two facing pages, picture and 10-line verse in ornate frames; Janot's emblems 'do not include moralising titles'): https://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/books.php?id=FLPa
- Christie's, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana (online sale), lot 'Hermetic emblems': Bocchi, Symbolicarum quaestionum de universo genere quas serio ludebat libri quinque (Bologna: Nova Academia Bocchiana, 1555), 'First edition of Bocchi's celebrated Hermetic emblem book', with '150 emblematic engravings by Giulio Bonasone': https://onlineonly.christies.com.cn/s/fine-printed-books-manuscripts-including-americana/hermetic-emblems-78/100585
- Wikipedia, 'Giulio Bonasone' (Bocchi's book of symbols, Bologna, 1555; Bonasone's 150 small engravings for it): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Bonasone
- Emblem Project Utrecht, Dutch Love Emblems of the Seventeenth Century (27 books, 1601–1724): https://emblems.hum.uu.nl/ ; Hugo, Pia desideria (1624), introduction (Aertssens, Bolswert's 45 copperplates, 49 reprints, 90 translations and adaptations): https://emblems.hum.uu.nl/hu1624_introduction.html ; Vaenius, Amorum emblemata (1608): https://emblems.hum.uu.nl/v1608.html ; Suderman, De godlievende ziel (1724), introduction (Henrik Wetstein; 105 emblems; Latin mottoes and picturae from Hugo and Vaenius; about 20 lines of Dutch verse each): https://emblems.hum.uu.nl/su1724_introduction.html
- PESSCA (Project on the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art), colonialart.org, record 2683A: emblem on p. 317 of the Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu by Johannes Bolland et al. (Balthasar Moretus I, Officina Plantiniana, Antwerp, 1640), by Cornelis Galle I (1576–1650): https://colonialart.org/artworks/2683a
- Wikipedia, 'Emblem book' (motto, image and explanatory text; timeline including Bocchi 1555, Whitney, Vaenius, Hugo, Quarles and the Imago primi saeculi by Jean Bolland and Sidronius Hosschius): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblem_book
- Wikipedia, 'Geoffrey Whitney' (A Choice of Emblemes, Leiden, 1586; 248 emblems, 202 cuts from the Plantin stock): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Whitney
- Wikipedia, 'Boetius à Bolswert' (45 Pia desideria plates, reproduced in Quarles's Emblems of 1635): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boetius_%C3%A0_Bolswert
- Wikipedia, 'Otto van Veen' (Amorum emblemata, Antwerp, 1608; 124 emblems; polyglot versions): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_van_Veen

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Emblem Book (Motto, Picture & Epigram)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/emblem-book/