I really want to recial the part of codex called “ephemera” for tis true purpose, that is, “printed matter of passing interest” here’s some:

Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum liber or Book of Emblems had enormous influence and popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a collection of 212 Latin emblem poems, each consisting of a motto (a proverb or other short enigmatic expression), a picture, and an epigrammatic text. Alciato’s book was first published in 1531, and was expanded in various editions during the author’s lifetime. It began a craze for emblem poetry that lasted for several centuries. We use the Latin text and images from an important edition of 1621 and we give a translation into English.

Notes on use


The emblems may be read in sequence, in Latin or in English, or in Latin-English parallel. If you know a title or a motif that you might be looking for, use our title and searching files. If you know an emblem number, go directly to it via the table of emblems. Though all the Alciato emblems have commentary files, only a few have proper explanatory commentaries. We also have a short note on Alciato, and bibliographies of early editions and secondary sources. Among other supporting documents, we have texts imitated by Alciato from the Greek Anthology.