Antverpiæ,: Ex Officina Plantiniana Balthasaris Moreti., M. DC. LX.
Physical Description
[2], 3-127, [1] p.: [58] illus. and t.p. vignette; 226 mm. (Quarto.)
General Note
In some copies (incl. that of the Royal Academy) p.47 is misnumbered as 33.
Contents
[T.p., dedic.] - Ad Lectorem Et Spectatorem - Carmen De Amore [by 'M.M.'] - [A Latin quotation and Spanish poem] - [Text with illus.]; Censura (1615); Summa Privilegii. - (The Royal Academy's copy has an additional leaf of text, bound in at the beginning in the eighteenth century, making the book suitable for use as a presentation copy in the College of Louis Le Grand: 'Ego Infrascriptus In Regio Ludovici Magni Collegio Societatis Jesu Primarius Testor ... Adolescentem Convictorem ... Palmare Hoc Volumen ... Meritum Esse, & ... anno millesimo septingentesimo ... chirographo, sigilloque feci.')
Responsibility Note
The illustrations and title-page vignette are unsigned.
The work is dedicated by Otho Vænius to 'Isabellæ Claræ Eugeniæ, Infanti Hispaniarum, Archiduci Austriæ ...'. This, like the Censura, is reproduced from the 1615 edition.
References
A. Adams, S. Rawles and A. Saunders, A Bibliography Of French Emblem Books (2 v., 1999-2002), vol. II. no. F.600, p.567-70.
Summary Note
This is a close resetting of the 1615 edition published at Antwerp by M. Nutius and J. Meursius. It uses the same illustrations and title-page vignette.
The illustrations are full-page. Each is preceded by explanatory text in Latin, Spanish, Dutch and French, printed on the verso of the preceding page.
Provenance
The front pastedown carries a 19th-century bookplate, printed, 'Ex Bibliotheca Arnaldi Ferdinandi de la Porte Episcopi Carcassonnensis.'
Purchased for RA Library in 1869 (see 'Report on the Library for the Year 1869', RA Annual Report, Appendix No. 6, p. 26).
Binding Note
18th-century mottled calf, upper and lower covers having gilt-stamped borders of leaves and Jesuit device (IHS within circlet) centre; spine panels gilt-stamped with fleur-de-lys motif, spine-label lettered 'Amor Emblem'.
Subject
Love - Christian art and symbolism
Emblem books - Belgium - 17th century
Pictorial works - Belgium - 17th century