Publisher's Synopsis
Why Jesuit emblems? The Society of Jesus produced more books in this genre than did any other identifiable group of writers and published in all major European vernacular languages as well as in Latin. Jeremiah Drexel, for example, was the most prolific and most published writer in Europe in the seventeenth century. He wrote more than twelve emblem books and each was translated and reissued in numerous later editions. Between 1618 and 1642, 170,000 of Drexel's books were sold in Munich alone - then a city of 22,000 inhabitants. Father Dimler, Research Professor of Emblem Studies at Fordham University, has assembled every known study on Jesuit emblem books and their authors. His bibliography includes both books written by individual Jesuits as well as those produced by Jesuit colleges and institutions. He has added commentary and descriptions for certain Fete books and works describing special occasions such as royal entries, pageants, marriage and funeral solemnities, and the consecration of bishops and archbishops that were emblematically structured. This bibliography is intended to serve as a companion piece to the Jesuit Series, deriving from the database of the Union Catalogue of Emblem Books now being completed by Peter M. Daly and Father Dimler. The bibliography should prove to be an invaluable tool for any emblem scholar, student of emblematics, or even the general reader who wishes information on the Jesuit contribution in the field of religious literature, emblem theory, and the society's unique relationship to secular rulers.
