Acknowledgements Preface List of Illustrations PART 1: Alciato 1 The Emblematization of Nature, and the Poetics of Alciato''s Epigrams 1 Introduction 2 Curiosities of Natural History 3 Ekphrases of Works of Art 4 Animal Poems, Drawn from the Greek Anthology , and the Aesopean Tradition 5 Emblematic Constructions Based on Ovid''s Metamorphoses 6 The Description of Character Types through the Emblematization of Animals 7 In Conclusion PART 2: Vernacular Forerunners of Alciato''s Emblematum Liber 2 A Manuscript Emblem Book before Alciato: Johann von Schwarzenberg''s Mirror of Religious Virtue (Memorial der Tugent, ca. 1510-1512) 1 Introduction 2 Schwarzenberg''s Ideas about the Combination of Text and Image - Congruences with the Emblematum Liber 3 The Dichotomous Structure of Schwarzenberg''s Emblems: Res significantes and res significatae 4 Variations of the Dichotomous Structure 5 A Catholic Emblem Book 6 In Conclusion: The Transmission of Knowledge in Schwarzenberg''s Emblematic Constructions3 A Printed Emblem Book before Alciato: Johann von Schwarzenberg''s Emblematization of Cicero''s De officiis as a Mirror of Political Virtue 1 A Printed Emblem Book before Alciato''s Emblematum Liber 2 The Genesis of the Emblematic De officiis 3 The Transformation of De officiis into an Emblematic and Christian Mirror of Princes 4 Emblematic Means for the Philosophical Education of Laymen: Proverbs, Similes, Moral Conclusions 5 Political Realism - A Kind of Machiavellization of De officiis avant la lettre? 6 Emblems Against Tyranny 7 In Conclusion PART 3: The Emblematic Commentary as a Means of Transmitting Knowledge 4 The Transformation of the Emblem Book into an Encyclopaedia: Stockhamer''s Commentary on Alciato (1551/1556) 1 Introduction: The Impact of a Commentary on the Genre of the Emblem Book 2 Stockhamer''s Commentary on Alciato and His Humanist Learning 3 Stockhamer''s Commentary and the Transmission of Knowledge: The Construction of an Encyclopaedic Compendium 4 The Emblematic Commentary as a Combination of Various Types of Encyclopaedia''s: Natural History, Etymology, Mythology, Grammar, and Collections of Proverbs 5 Conclusion5 The Game of Emblematic Interpretation and Emblematic Authorship: Hadrianus Junius'' Emblemata (1565) 1 Introduction 2 The Enigmatic Structure of the Emblems, and the Enigma of the Author''s Self-Commentary 3 Potential Models for Junius'' Commentary? 4 The Function of Junius'' Commentary: Authorization of Emblematic Interpretations, Transmission of Emblematic Knowledge, and Collection of Commonplaces 5 The Game of Emblematic Interpretation and Emblematic Authorship PART 4: Advanced Emblematic Transmission of Knowledge 6 Early Modern Zoology as a Mirror of Princes: Joachim Camerarius'' Quadrupedes (1595) 1 Introduction 2 The Structure of Camerarius'' Emblem Books: What is the Status of the "Commentary"? 3 The Transmission of Knowledge in the Book on the Quadrupeds: Zoology and Political Education 4 Camerarius'' Emblems and University Education 5 The Printed Emblem Book and the Manuscript 6 The Emblematic Construction of a "Plinian" Animal: The Rhino 7 Curious Animal Behaviour: The Leopard''s Trick as a Political Lesson 8 The Zoological and Emblematic Construction of an Animal without Pliny: The Opossum of the New World 9 The Zoological and Emblematic Construction of an Animal without Written Sources: The ''Suhak'' (Saiga) 10 Conclusion7 The Transmission of Knowledge via Pictorial Figurations: Vaenius'' Emblemata Horatiana (1607) as a Manual of Ethics 1 Introduction 2 The Emblemata Horatiana : A Mirror of Princes? A Neostoic Manifesto? 3 The Pictorial Transmission of Typically ''Horatian'' Ethics: The Use of Personifications, Mnemonic Landscapes, and Geometrical Figurations 4 Personifications, Dichotomous Constructions and Moments of Decision 5 Horace''s Aurea mediocritas : Geometrical Figurations, Mnemonic Landscapes and Middle Positions 6 Vaenius'' Personifications: The Rhetoric of Living Images 7 The Transmission of Proverbial Wisdom: Scenes of Everyday Life, Paintings within Paintings, and Other Figurations Bibliography Index Nominum.