This week’s illustration post focuses on perhaps the most
popular illustrated genre of the Renaissance: the emblem book.
Emblem books were a genre developed in the early 16th century as
digestible and curious works which combined an image, a motto
and an explanatory text. This genre remained popular on the
continent well into the 17th century, although, strangely, it
never found any real footing in the U.K. The illustrations were
most commonly woodcuts and the mottoes Latin, however Greek and
vernacular mottoes were common as well. The intention of most
emblem books was to deliver a moral lesson through text and
image, but often the connection between these two elements is
obscure. There are many projects that have developed over the
last decade to provide a digital repository for these books
worth exploring (Emblematica Online [Univeristy of Illinois and
Herzog August Bibliothek], University of Glasgow and the Emblem
Project Utrecht are good examples). Although St Andrews 17th
century holdings remain largely