Engravings for Engravers
VERRIEN, [Nicolas].
Recueil d’emblêmes, devises, medailles, et figures hieroglyphiques, au nombre de plus de douze cent, avec leurs explications … Paris, Claude Jombert [part II: Jean Jombert], 1724.
Three parts in one vol., 8vo, I: pp. [2], 62, interleaved with engraved part-title and 62 pp. of engraved illustrations (plates 32–35, 38–41, 48–51, and 54–57 misbound), with engraved frontispiece of the author by Edelinck after Jouvenay; II: pp. [iv, engraved title (‘Livre curieux et utile’, see below), frontispiece and dedication], 16, 154 [engraved illustrations numbered 1–20, 20 bis, 21–153], 24 [index], with engraved part-title; III: with engraved part-title and 17 pp. of engraved illustrations; some browning or staining, obscured inscription to title-page, but a good copy; bound in contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments with red morocco lettering-piece, edges stained red; somewhat worn with cracks to joints, endcaps and -bands lost; two pages of contemporary manuscript notes on rear flyleaf.
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Recueil d’emblêmes, devises, medailles, et figures hieroglyphiques, au nombre de plus de douze cent, avec leurs explications …
A rich collection of engraved emblems, monograms, and heraldic supporters, devised as a pattern book for the use of artists and craftsmen.
First issued in 1685 under the title Livre curieux et utile pour les Sçavans et Artistes, Verrien’s book contains a substantial 945 emblems, 153 calligraphic monograms, and 34 heraldic supporters, from angels to ostriches via peacocks and porcupines. The second engraved title had previously been used as the title-page for the second edition of 1696, retaining the original title the imprint of Jean Jombert (Adams, Rawles & Saunders F.612).
This was the first style guide of emblems published specifically for the use of craftsmen, its modest size providing another indication of its intended audience. The subjects represented in the emblems, each provided with a short description, motto in Latin (or occasionally Italian or Spanish) and meaning in French, include a tulip (p. 10), a telescope (p. 11), and a closed book (p. 38), whose worth is on the inside. The section on monograms, somewhat grouped alphabetically, are accompanied by roundels of personifications, such as Democracy, Summer, Hope, and Evening.
Cohen-De Ricci 1010–1011; Landwehr, Romanic 771; Praz, p. 528.