[Emblemata] Alciatus, A. Emblemata

Lyon, M. Bonhomme for G. Rouillé, 1551. 226,(5,1) p., title and dedicatory leaves within woodcut borders, 197 woodcut emblematical ills. and 14 woodcuts of trees, all attributed to P. Eskrich, all within woodcut borders by "P.V." (= P. Eskrich), 19th-cent. gilttooled half calf w. mor. letterpiece.

Bookplate on pastedown. Sm. inkstain on title-p., a few lvs. sl. worn along edges, overall a fine copy. One of the most complete Latin editions of Alciatus' Emblemata. *Alciatus wrote the emblems as epigrams for his humanist friends, later sending a selection to Peutinger at the court of Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg. First published without the author's consent by Steyner at Augsburg in 1531 without Alciatus's consent, Emblemata is considered the first emblem book and, according to Mortimer "set the standard for the popular field of emblem literature".