Boissard, Jean Jacques: Emblemes latins… (1588)

This is the second edition of the first of Boissard’s two emblem books (first edition Emblemata cum tetrastichis latinis (Metz: Jean Aubry, 1584)). Boissard is exceptional among emblem writers in that, as both an artist and a poet, he is largely responsible for both the text and the engravings of his books. There is a manuscript in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Institut 623 (c. 1583) which contains first versions of all the emblems in this book, and also those in Boissard’s second emblem book, the Emblematum liber (Frankfurt: Theodor de Bry, 1593 with a German edition in the same year and a French edition in 1595). In both editions, the 1584/88 emblems include not only Boissard’s Latin text, but a French version by Boissard’s friend Pierre Joly. Within ultra-Catholic Lorraine, Metz at this point was a refuge for French Protestants, and Boissard’s emblems at times reflect his Reformed faith. In the same period he had travelled widely, spending many years in Rome, Padua, other Italian cities and even Greece, as well as travelling in Germany and the Low Countries. He may be seen as a true Humanist with contacts in the courts and among the learned men of Europe.(http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/books.php?id=FBOa)