Andrea Alciato - EMBLEMS BOOKS, 212 ENGRAVINGS, ESOTERICISM, OCCULTISM, METAPHYSICS, VICES, VIRTUES, MAGIC - 1621

1621 EDITION EMBLEMS BOOK ABOUT ESOTERICISM, OCCULTISM, METAPHYSICS, VICES, VIRTUES, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, MAGIC, THE MOST COMPLETE EDITION by ANDREA ALCIATO or ALCIATI (1492-1550) WITH 212 EMBLEMS and engraved by Ferroverde Filippo (active 1600-1647) after original illustrations by Virgil Solis (1514-1562). A FINE COPY of "Alciati's most complete edition" (Landwehr 99), and one of the most influential examples of the genre "Emblem Literature". This work also contains the famous emblem "Adversus Naturam Peccantes (Against Those Who Sin Against Nature)" which, due to its obscene nature, had been omitted from many previous editions, this illustration appears in only two editions (1546 and 1621). The point of this emblem is to castigate the vices of homosexuality, adultery and incest. These elegant emblems with moral meanings, richly illustrated, were created especially for scholars and students of Greek and Latin classics and created an entire European genre, and a great sociological and historical document of European culture. The images and emblems are commented and expanded by Claude Mignault (1536-1606), a French scholar who taught canon law, Greek and Latin literature in Reims and Paris. Antique leather binding with gilt ornamentation, in excellent condition as shown in the photos. DEFINITIVE COMPLETE EDITION.

LANDWEHR 99: “THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST EXTENSIVELY COMMENTATED OF ALCIATI' EDITIONS”. THE MOST COMPLETE, RICHLY ILLUSTRATED EDITION. One of the best editions of Alciati's Emblems with illustrations by the great German artist Virgil Solis (Brunet Vol. I, Col 148) and re-engraved, improved by Ferroverde Filippo. These illustrators transformed the aesthetics of the Renaissance book and inaugurated the Baroque era of layout, organizing innovative typographical and decorative materials, promoting illustration with copperplate engravings, combining visual appeal, readability and effectiveness. Each emblem is made up of a symbolic image and a very short text that matches the illustration. The inventor of the emblem genre was Andrea Alciati-Alciato, a jurist and university professor. He owes his fame to the book "Emblematun Liber", written as a pleasant diversion from his professional commitments. First published in Augsburg in 1531 but with far fewer illustrations, Alciati drew on proverbs, myths, and hieroglyphics from ancient historians, building a veritable figurative repertoire of images of ancient deities, symbols, and antiquarian vestiges, from which painters, engravers, and goldsmiths could draw. At the beginning of the book there is a biography of Alciati written by Claude Mignault.

TITLE: Emblemata cum commentarijs amplissimis... (Emblemata with very extensive commentaries...)
AUTHORS: Andrea Alciato also known as Andrea Alciati or Andreas Alciatus (1492-1550), with comments by Claude Mignault or Claudium Minoem (1536-1606), engraver Ferroverde Filippo (active 1600-1647) after illustrations by Virgil Solis (1514-1562)
PUBLISHER: Petrum Paulum Tozzium or Pietro Paolo Tozzi and editing/notes by Lorenzo Pignoria (1571-1631)
DATE: 1621, text in Latin and Greek

DESCRIPTION: In 4° size, height 235 x width 180 mm (9.3 by 7.1 inches). LXXX (80) numbered pages for index, 1003 pages, [5]. The book contains 212 emblems, this is the most complete Alciati's edition, text and illustrations are clean, intact and well engraved, rare small stains or defects. Antique leather binding with gilt ornamentation and titles on the spine; shows minor signs of use, small defects or other negligible imperfections. The binding is very solid and intact—free from cuts, breaks, cracks, or structural defects—fully functional, professionally restored, and in very good condition, as shown in the photos. Title-frontispiece framed with decorations and grotesque figures. Pages are white and intact; the quality of the paper and printing is good; there are only minor, infrequent defects, such as small stains or signs of oxidation; the illustrations are well-engraved. This work also contains the famous emblem "Adversus Naturam Peccantes (Against Those Who Sin Against Nature)" which, due to its obscene nature, had been omitted from many previous editions, this illustration appears in only two editions (1546 and 1621). DEFINITIVE COMPLETE EDITION.

LITERATURE & REFERENCES: World Cat OCLC n°878912763; USTC n°4005734; Praz p. 25 & 251; Landwehr Romanic, 99: “This is by far the most extensively commentated of Alciati' editions”; Cicognara 1837; Green 152; Alciati, Andrea (2004). A Book of Emblems: The Emblematum Liber in Latin and English, Moffitt, F. John; Henry Green, Andrea Alciati and his emblems: a biographical and bibliographical study (London: Trübner, 1872); Alison Saunders, 'Sixteenth-Century French Translations of Alciati's Emblemata', French Studies 44 (1990), 271-288; D.S. Russell, Alciato, Andrea, in C. Nativel, Centuriae latinae. Cent une figures humanistes de la Renaissance aux Lumières offertes à Jacques Chomarat, Genève 1997.

AUTHOR: Andrea Alciato also known as Alciati or Andreas Alciatus (1492-1550), was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists. Alciati is most famous for his Emblemata, published in dozens of editions from 1531 onward. This collection of short Latin verse texts and accompanying woodcuts created an entire European genre, the emblem book, which attained enormous popularity in continental Europe and Great Britain.

ILLUSTRATOR: Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514-1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg. His prints were sold separately (mainly the etchings and engravings) or formed the illustrations of books (normally the woodcuts); many prints signed by him are probably by assistants. After his death his widow married his assistant and continued the workshop into the early seventeenth century.

SHIPPING: via UPS, DHL, National Postal Services, protected, INSURED and fully tracked package. Estimated time for Europe 3-5 working days. Shipping within one working day, you can combine shipping if you purchases several items from us, saving money and time.