Symbolorum

Discover the esoteric insights and enchanting imagery of the Baroque emblem book, a long-lost cousin of the tarot

The emblem book, which reached the peak of its popularity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presented mysterious allegorical images—rather like those we now find on tarot cards—alongside Latin mottoes. A learned text explained the connection between image and motto, and the lessons each emblem held for the reader’s life. Drawing on sources such as medieval bestiaries and Aesop’s fables, emblem books reflected an enchanted view of nature in which our human lives were intertwined with plants, animals, the moon and the stars.

World-renowned natural perfumer Mandy Aftel first encountered emblem books in the course of her researches into antique botanical illustrations, and quickly… Keep Reading