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Rare Books

Rare Book Division
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-258-3184
Curator of Rare Books
609-258-9942

The Library has nearly 60 editions of Alciati's Emblemata, starting with the first (gift of Sinclair Hamilton), continuing strongly through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and coming down to Peter Daly and Virginia Callahan's analytical Andreas Alciatus: The Latin Emblems vol. I; Emblems in Translation vol. II. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985) with the added sub-title 'Index Emblematicus' [(ExB) PN6349 .A52 1985].

Also at Princeton, the Collections File contains a listing of all known editions of Alciati's Emblemata. Titled The Princeton Alciati Bibliography, the listing revises the work of Henry Green and includes many descriptions of Alciati editions just as full as Green's but more accurate. In general, Princeton's effort has been directed toward identifying all known editions, describing in detail those at Princeton, and compiling all data into a systematic listing. The listing is one of several works resulting from the endeavors of the Princeton Emblem Project. Another relevant publication of the Project is William S. Heckscher's The Princeton Alciati Companion: A Glossary of Neo-Latin Words and Phrases used by Andrea Alciati and the Emblem Book Writers of his time, including a Bibliography of Secondary Sources relevant to the Study of Alciati's Emblems (New York, 1989). [(ExB) PA2904.H37 1989]. See also William S. Heckscher's A selective list of secondary sources dealing with Andrea Alciati and his book of emblems / compiled by William S. Heckscher with Stephen Ferguson and Agnes B. Sherman. (Princeton, N.J.: The Library, 1985) [(F) Z8023 .H43 1985]