Emblemata

right|thumb|Title page of the book Emblematum liber by Andrea Alciato (1531) The Emblemata, or Emblematum liber first appeared in Augsburg (Germany) in 1531 under the title Viri Clarissimi D. Andreae Alciati Iurisconsultiss. Mediol. Ad D. Chonradum Peutingerum Augustanum, Iurisconsultum Emblematum Liber. Produced by the publisher Heinrich Steyner, the unauthorized first print edition was compiled from a manuscript of Latin poems which the Italian jurist Andrea Alciato had dedicated to his friend Conrad Peutinger and circulated to his acquaintances. The 1531 edition was soon followed by a 1534 edition authorized by Alciato: published in Paris by Christian Wechel, this appeared under the title Andreae Alciati Emblematum Libellus ("''Andrea Alciato's Little Book of Emblems''"). The word "emblemata" is the plural of the Greek word ἔμβλημα, meaning a piece of inlay or mosaic, or an ornament: in his preface to Peutinger, Alciato describes his emblems as a learned recreation, a pastime for humanists steeped in classical culture.

The first version of Alciati's emblem-book contained 104 emblems without illustrations. It was Steyner who made the crucial decision that each emblem should be illustrated, and Steyner then commissioned the engravings from an artist named Jörg Breu. The success of the Emblematum liber was immediate.