| Record ID | cp012258 |
| Voet reference number | 2168 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | c:lvd:1166904 |
| Author | Joannes SAMBUCUS (ZSAMBOKY) |
| Title page transcription | [Within woodcut-compartment:] EMBLEMATA, ‖ CVM ALIQVOT ‖ NVMMIS ANTIQVI ‖ OPERIS, IOANNIS ‖ SAMBVCI TIRNAVI- ‖ ENSIS PANNONII. ‖ [Fleuron] ‖ ANTVERPIAE, ‖ EX OFFICINA CHRI- ‖ STOPHORI PLANTINI. ‖ - ‖ M.D.LXIV. ‖ CVM PRIVILEGIO. |
| Collation | 8⁰ [133]: A-P⁸; pages 1-240 (Errors: 9 not numbered, 3 of 34 upside down, 102-103-104 for 202-203-204, 106-107 for 206-207) |
| Fingerprint | |
| Number of sheets | |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: Privilege (Brussels, 28 January 1563, signed by Fabri) 3-7: De emblemate (Ghent, 1 January 1564; parts in greek type) 8: Portrait of Sambucus with two lines text (italic type) [9-12]: Maximiliano II. Imperatori…domino suo clementissimo (s. T.M. clientulus minimus Sambucus; italic type) 13-230: Text (italic type, parts in roman type and greek type) 231: Errata (words in italic type and greek type) 232: Magnifico domino Ioanni Groliero thesaurario regio Lutetiae (Ghent, 3 January 1564) 233-240: [Nummi veteres] 240: EXCVDEBAT CHRISTOPHORVS PLAN- ‖ TINVS ANTVERPIAE, VIII. CAL. ‖ SEPT. ANNO M.D.LXIV |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | Woodcuts, some with the monograms of the woodcutters Arnold Nicolai (A), Gerard Janssen van Kampen (G) and Cornelis Muller (C): 1) Title-page: woodcut-compartment, showing in medallions the 9 Muses, with underneath Plantin's printer's mark, 148 × 92 2) Portrait of Sambucus on page 8, 55 × 55, with the monogram of A, and the inscription 'SAMBVCVS ÆTATIS XXXIII ANNO MDLXIIII.' 3) 167 illustrations, c. 48 × c. 55; with the monogram of A on pages 19, 26, 32, 81, 82, 114, 116, 122, 126, 140, 145, 216, 228; of G on pages 104, 160; of C on page 218; printed from 166 blocks (the illustrations on pages 64 and 205 being identical) 4) On pages 233-240: 23 illustrations, of which 22 Roman coins showing in each block the obverse (= portrait of a Roman emperor) and the reverse, c. 45 × c. 75, and, as last illustration, a coin or medal, same dimensions, recto and verso, showing the Four Seasons (Quatuor anni tempora, in nummo regio maximi precii in Fontenobili) 5) The emblems are printed within woodcut-borders, of varying dimensions; in all 19 types, reprinted time and again. N.B. The original blocks are still in Museum Plantin-Moretus |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- A 1414- R 55.28Staats- und Stadtbibliothek AugsburgKBR Royal Library of BelgiumCambridgeRoyal Danish LibraryUniversity Library of Erlangen-NürnbergGhent University LibraryBiblioteca Nacional de PortugalBritish Library LondonFaculté de Théologie Protestante, UL MontaubanMunicipal Library NîmesBibliothèque nationale de FranceMazarine, ParisBibliothèque de l'Bibliothèque de l’ArsenalPostel AbbeyBiblioteca Nazionale Centrale di RomaVatican Apolstolic LibraryMunicipal Library Vendôme. |
| Digital copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus: R 19.8 Museum Plantin-Moretus: A 1414 |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, pages 41-42 (1564, no. 27) Praz, M. Seventeenth-Century Imagery, 1964, page 486 J. Landwehr, Emblem Books in the Low Countries, 1970, no. 590 Homann, 1971, pages 73-75 M. Rooses, 'De Plantijnsche uitgaven…' |
| Online bibliographical references | |
| Note 1 | The editio princeps of Sambucus's Emblemata, in two parts: A) Emblems: each of the 166 emblem-illustrations (the first of the 167 illustrations, on page [9], is in fact less than a real emblem merely accompanying the dedicatory to Maximilian II), with a title (in roman type, some in greek type). and underneath a Latin explanatory poem (in italic type). A number of them dedicated: to Vitus Rechnicz (page 22), Philippus Apianus (page 23), Hieronymus Wolfius (page 26), Paschasius Hamelius (page 28), Andreas Sbardellatus episcopus (page 38), Georgius Drascovith episcopus Quinquecclesiensis (page 39), Dionysius Lambinus (page 50), Fulvius Ursinus (page 62), Franciscus Forgaz episcopus Var. (page 65), Bartholomeus Marlianus (page 66), 'principes Ungariae' (page 70), Achilles Bochius (page 76), Marcus et Joannes Fuggerus (page 78), Joannes Baptista Razarius (page 82), Hadrianus Gulielmus Neopolitanus (page 85), Joannes Auratus (page 87), Volfgangus Lazius polyhistor (page 89), Julius comes a Salmis (page 93), Stephanus Gentilis, nobilis Genuensis (page 98), Joannes Panithy sororius (page 101), Arnoldus Arlenius (page 103), Franciscus Robortellus (page 106), Hubertus Goltzius antiquarius (page 113), Paulus Manutius (page 116), Hannibal Cruceius (page 120), In sponsalia Joannis Ambii Angli et Albae Rolleae D. Arnoldi medici Gandavensis filiae (page 124), Adrianus Turnebus (page 130), Erricus Memmius (page 136), Petrus Ligorius (page 137), Hadrianus Iunius medicus (page 140), Carolus Sogonius (page 142), Joannes Aicholz medicus (page 150), Carolus Clusius (page 156), Joannes Hartungus (page 159), Adamus Fumannus (page 163), Achilles Maphaeus (page 166), Joannes Baptista Pigna Ferrar[iensis] (page 170), Achilles Statius Lusitanus (page 177), Bartholomeus Marantha (page 182), Petrus Sambukius parens (page 184), Georgius Tanner[us] (page 189), G. Schirletus (page 191), Nicolaus Istuans (page 192), Marcus Laurinus Brugensis (page 196), Antonius Muretus (page 197), Octavianus Ferrarius Mediolanensis (page 201), Joannes Listhius secretarius Caesar[iensis] (page 205), Petrus Ramus (page 214), Petrus Victorius (page 218), Aonius Palearius (page 221), Anthonius Verancius episcopus Agriensis (page 223), Epitaphium generosi adolescentis Georgii Bonae Transylvani († 6 September 1559, at the age of 20) (page 228), Michael Brutus (page 230); B) Second part: series of Roman coins, with a dedicatory letter to Joannes Grolierus, but without any comment. |
| Note 2 | The emblem dedicated to Fulvius Ursinus (page 62) is studied in detail by M. Boas, op. cit., pages 132-134. |
| Note 3 | The publication by Plantin was arranged by Sambucus when residing in the Netherlands in 1563-64. References to the edition can be found in two of his letters: one to Abraham Ortelius, 22 September 1563, from which it can be deduced that the Hungarian humanist was working on his emblems but had not yet finished them; the second to Fulvius Ursinus, dated Augsburg, 13 April 1564, in which he states that he left Antwerp some months before, and put there on the press 200 'emblemata' (in fact thus only 166; but perhaps referring to the additional emblems which would appear in the edition of 1566: cf. no. 2169, of which some were dedicated to Ursinus (in fact only one). Cf. Homann, op. cit., page 74. |
| Note 4 | According to the colophon the printing was finished on 25 August 1564. |
| Note 5 | The problems regarding the illustrations can be reconstructed from the Plantinian archives (cf. Rooses, 'De Plantijnsche uitgaven…', who gives excerpts from the archives): A) The making of the wood-blocks proper was entrusted by Plantin to the Antwerp craftsman Gilles Hevele who was paid, on 4 November 1563, 1 florins Carolus guilders 13½ stuivers for 'bois de buis à faire tailler figures d'emblesmes pour Sambucus dont il m'en a livré 11 de grandes pour mectre in 8⁰ de travers comprenants 12 lignes de médian en hauteur (1 stuivers a piece). Plus m'en a faict 25 petits bois de grandeur à mectre de travers en 16⁰. Item 7 escarreures de mesme bois où entrent lesd. autres 25 petites pièces de forme en 16⁰' (Arch. 3, folio 3r). This was only part of the job. In Arch. 36, folio 66, is noted on 11 December 1563: '25 pièces de buis qui avoyent esté préparés pour faire les fig[ures] des Emblesmes de Sambucus (qui depuis ont esté faictes à Gand) à 1 stuivers pièce couste quelle sont et sont [sic] de deux longueurs ou plus desd[its] fig[ures] paravant commencées. Item encore 9 bois pour lesd[its] figures plus grands'; together: 1 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers It may thus be assumed that finally the wood-blocks were prepared not in Antwerp but in Ghent (and probably paid by Sambucus himself); B) Sambucus entrusted the making of the drawings of the emblems to the Ghent painter Lucas d'Heere (Sambucus himself must have been living at that time in Ghent). Plantin paid the Ghent master for 168 emblems, at 10 stuivers a piece, on 21 Februari 1564, 70 florins Carolus guilders and again 10 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers on 30 March 1564 (Arch. 3, folios 7r and 8v). But the results were far from satisfactory - very likely not being artistically inferior, but the drawings having to be executed directly on the blocks, it may be supposed that d'Heere was not quite familiar with this technique and made some technical mistakes. Anyway, a large number - in all 81 - had to be 'repourtraict' (redrawn): 80 by Pieter Huys, the Antwerp painter, who, at 7 stuivers a piece, was paid 14 florins Carolus guilders on 5 January 1564 and again 14 florins Carolus guilders on 23 January 1564 (Arch. 3, folios 5v and 6r), and a single one by Geoffroy Ballain, the Parisian draughtsman, who was paid 10 stuivers for 1 figure 'repourtraict' on 13 June 1564 (Arch. 3, folio 13r). Pieter Huys executed a series of other drawings for which he was paid on 24 June 1564: the woodcut-compartment for the title-page (1 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers), the portrait of Sambucus (15 stuivers), the coat-of arms of Sambucus (being one of the emblems) (7 stuivers), 13 'vignettes' (= probably the borders) and 4 'lampettes à remplir les vides' (small tailpieces) (3 florins Carolus guilders 18 stuivers), and the 23 'medailles' (Roman coins) at 7 stuivers a piece (8 florins Carolus guilders 1 stuivers), in all 14 florins Carolus guilders 11 stuivers (Arch. 3, folio 14r); C) For cutting Plantin first contacted Arnold Nicolai, with whom he made on 17 November 1563 an agreement for supplying 150 'figures des Emblesmes de Sambucus', at a ratio of 3 per day beginning on 22 November, paid 7 stuivers a piece. On 17 November 1563 Nicolai had already delivered 10 'figures d'empereur' (Roman coins), at 5 stuivers a piece, and a 'pourtraicture de P. Huys' (? a border ?) at 4 stuivers But Nicolai was much slower in executing the blocks than he had promised: on 20 November 1563 he delivered 4 'figures'; on 14 February 1564 the woodcut-compartment of the title-page; on 1 April 1564 7 'figures' and '24 testes d'Empereurs', and somewhat later 5 'figures'; on 3 May 1564 14 'testes d'empereurs'; on 13 June 1564 one 'figure'; on 18 July 1564 5 'figures', and finally on 17 August 1564 3 'figures'; together only 35 emblems and 58 'testes d'empereur', for which he was paid 39 florins Carolus guilders 1 stuivers (Arch. 31, folio 50v). Nicolai must in fact have executed some other blocks - but not many more: when on 1 April 1564, in Arch. 3, folio 8v, Plantin summed up the situation of the 'Emblemata Sambuci' at that moment, he states that up to that time A. Nicolai had cut 38 'figures' (at 15 stuivers a piece), 4 'vignettes' (at 10 stuivers a piece) and 'le commencement' (title-page: 3 florins Carolus guilders), totaling 31 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers As it became soon quite obvious that Nicolai could not supply the blocks in due time, Plantin addressed himself to Cornelis Muller, with whom he concluded on 1 January 1564 a contract, in the presence of Sambucus, in which the woodcutter accepted to execute 9 blocks a week, to be fined 3 stuivers a day when failing to fulfill his commitment and to be paid the same fees as Nicolai. Muller's ratio was again slower than promised, but in any case between 1 January and 20 August 1564 he delivered 95 blocks, of which 68 emblems, 16 'medailles', and 11 'bords' (1 January 1564: 3; 19 February: 6; 28 March: 47 emblems and 11 'bords'; 20 May: 2; 6 June: 4; 11 June: 1; 18 June: 1 emblem and 4 'medailles'; 2 July: 6 'medailles'; 9 July: 5 'medailles'; 19 July: 1; 20 August: 3), and was paid (with 2 fees for another small work as well) 52 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers (Arch. 31, folio 65; in Arch. 3, folio 8v, Plantin noted the situation on 1 April 1564: 48 'figures' at 10 stuivers and 11 'bords' also at 10 stuivers). As Cornelis Muller in his turn could not keep up the speed asked by Plantin (and the author), the typographer had to call in a third woodcutter, Gerard Janssen van Kampen, who between 24 March and 14 July 1564 executed 36 blocks, of which 30 emblems and 6 'medailles' (24 March: 11; 20 May: 13; 1 June: 2; 14 July: 4 emblems and 6 'medailles'), for which he was paid 21 florins Carolus guilders 17 stuivers (Arch. 31, folio 76v). To recapitulate: according to Arch. 31 Nicolai supplied 35 emblems and 58 'testes d'empereurs'; Muller: 68 emblems and 16 'medailles'; Janssen van Kampen 30 emblems and 6 'medailles', i.e. 133 emblems and 80 roman coins. The number of 'medailles' is much too high: perhaps Sambucus or Plantin finally decided to drop quite a lot of them; it is also possible that some confusion has been made in the records between 'figures' and 'medailles' or, more likely, that some of the 'medailles' were in fact intended for other works (while always, or practically always, in the entries is noted 'emblesmes de Sambucus', for the 'medailles' the name of the author is not very often specified). The number of emblems is too low: there are actually 166 of them against 133 accounted for, but, as stated immediately above, in Arch. 31 some confusion can have been made between emblems and coins, while it is also possible, and even very likely, that a number of the emblems have been included in not fully detailed entries (the notes in Arch. 31 are not precisely a model in their kind!). From Arch. 3, folio 8v, quoted above, it is in any case clear that A. Nicolai must have executed more blocks than detailed in Arch. 31; D) The making of the illustrations is also entered in detail in the cost-accounting note in Arch. 4, folio 63, but without clarifying all the dubious problems: 5 January 1564: Par portraicture à Pierre Huys, 14 florins Carolus guilders; 23 January 1564: Par taille à Arnold Nicolai et à Corneille Muller et pourtraicture à Pierre Huys, 37 florins Carolus guilders 9 stuivers; 21 February 1564: A maistre Lucas d'Heere painctre à Guendt sur la pourtraicture des figures, 70 florins Carolus guilders 2 stuivers; 1 April 1564: Pour taille de figures, 58 florins Carolus guilders 4 stuivers; 7 May 1564: Pour la taille de 30 figures à Arnold et à Corneille Muller, 13 florins Carolus guilders 5 stuivers; 13 June 1564: Pour 25 figures taillées par Corneille [Muller], Guer. [Gerard Janssen] et Arn. [Arnold Nicolai], 14 florins Carolus guilders 9 stuivers; 23 and 24 June: Par taille et pourtraicture, 19 florins Carolus guilders 8 stuivers; 19 August 1564: Pour 5 fig. à Arnold Nicolai, 5 florins Carolus guilders 5 stuivers; Pour la pourtraicture de 7 fig. à Geoffroy Balling, 3 florins Carolus guilders 10 stuivers; Pour la taille de dix figures à Corneille Muller, 6 florins Carolus guilders; Pour la taille des medailles à 12 stuivers pièce et faict 22, 13 florins Carolus guilders 4 stuivers In all 254 florins Carolus guilders 16 stuivers On the opposite page, however, Plantin notes 'Fig. 139 (= sic) coustent [converted from Flemish pounds] 259 florins Carolus guilders 15 stuivers'. |
| Note 6 | The cost-accounting note in Arch. 4, folio 63, gives the following details about 'Emblesmes de Sambucus' or 'Emblemata Sambuci in 8⁰': for the entries referring to the illustrations see immediately above. The first entry is rather enigmatic: '4 November et 19 dud[ict] et le 1 Decembre et 7 dud[ict] [1564]', 5 florins Carolus guilders 9 stuivers, but refers probably to the carrying of the emblems (= the blocks on which the drawings of L. d'Heere) from Ghent to Antwerp, as entered in Arch. 3, folio 3v (19 November 1563. J'ay payé pour le port de 11 figures [Emblesmes de Sambucus] qui m'on esté apportées de Gand à deux fois 7 stuivers: 14 stuivers) and folio 4v (7 December 1563. Emblesmes de Sambucus coustent de port à diverses fois de compte faict avec Abraham Ortelius à qui les figures ont esté livrées venant de Gandt: 4 florins Carolus guilders 14 stuivers). The costs for composing and printing start on 27 February 1564 with the entry 'Pour impression et composition de 2 feilles avec la porte du commencement'; the last sheets were paid on 6 August 1564 (quires O and P; quire N was already finished on 18 June; there has consequently been a rather long interval in the printing process: very likely because the illustrations for the last two quires were in June not yet available); the wages for composing and printing came to 23 florins Carolus guilders 14 stuivers As each copy contains 16 sheets and as 1,250 copies were printed, 44 reams (including 1 ream 'pour la première feille refaicte') of 'papier de Bourgogne dict grand bastard' were used, which, at 'environ' 2 florins Carolus guilders per ream, came to 88 florins Carolus guilders 8 stuivers The total costs amounted consequently to: 254 florins Carolus guilders 16 stuivers for the illustrations; 5 florins Carolus guilders 9 stuivers for portage; 23 florins Carolus guilders 14 stuivers for the composing and printing; 88 florins Carolus guilders 8 stuivers for the paper; grand total: 372 florins Carolus guilders 7 stuivers On the opposite page, Plantin continued: 'Emblemata Sambuci in 8⁰ en nombre 1250 coustent figures, faceon et papier 515 florins Carolus guilders 5½ stuivers, qui est la pièce environ à 8¼ st pièce, fig. 139 coustent [converted from Flemish pounds: 259 florins Carolus guilders 15 stuivers]. Le compte refaict le 4 May 1565 nous trouvons que lesd[icts] Emblemata Sambuci coustent [converted from Flemish pounds: 367 florins Carolus guilders 13½ stuivers] qui est la pièce environ 6 stuivers la pièce en comptant les figures avec. Lesquelles figures demeureroyent y ainsi pour proffict'. The accountancy error made when the work was finished (= 515 florins Carolus guilders 5½ stuivers) was thus only corrected in May 1565 (= 367 florins Carolus guilders 13½, a figure matching approximately the cost-accounting entries). |
| Note 7 | Plantin in his cost-accounting note overlooked some expenses. Such as the 7½ stuivers paid to Daniel (the only mention of the name in the Plantinian archives of those years; probably someone who was with Sambucus in Ghent) 'pour avoir escrit 5 feilles de papier in 4⁰ des vers dud. [= Sambucus] ' (Arch. 3, folio 3v); that is, very likely, for having transcribed Sambucus's text (or part of it) for use by the compositors. |
| Note 8 | A wood-block with the drawing of the coat-of-arms of Sambucus is preserved in Museum Plantin-Moretus (Tk 613; Cat. no. 129). The same block is reproduced in the 1564-edition on page 200 - and this cut block also is preserved in Museum Plantin-Moretus. Very likely, by inadvertence, two similar drawings were made, but the woodcutter (or the publisher) found it out in time: only one block was actually cut, and the other with the original drawing put away. |
| Note 9 | Listed in M 296, folio 5v (Emblemata Sambuci in 8⁰ p[rim] a edit., f[euilles] 15, [price:] stuivers 7), and M 164, folio 10v. |
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