Labour, Vertue, Glorie: Leaves from the Emblem Books of Gabriel Rollenhagen and George Wither

Vancouver: Heavenly Monkey, 2018. Quarto. 63, (ii)pp. One of twenty-five copies (Series 3). With two leaves tipped in, one originating from George Wither's A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient & Moderne (London, 1635), and the other from the Nucleus Emblematum Selectissimorum of Gabriel Rollenhagen. This expansion on the leaf-book motif provides not only insight into but also a recreation of its source text. At the publisher's request, Wither created a game, in which volvelles directed readers to one of four books, and within each book to a particular emblem. Most existing copies of the book lack the volvelle page, which would have been torn out for use. In the present volume, the volvelles have been recreated, along with Wither's two introductory Notes to the Reader, and his instructions for playing the lottery. To these are added a considerable discussion of the original book's production as a feat of letterpress and intaglio printing. This copy's leaf from Rollenhagen shows his eleventh emblem, "Lente sed Attente," illustrated by a snail traveling across a narrow branch. The leaf from Wither bears emblems forty-one and forty-two from Book 4: "Ut ne Quid Dedeceat", which depicts a woman dressed in finery and gazing at a mirror, and "Non Nobis", which shows a large, active beehive. The layout of the leaves, presented as two original plates opposite their eventual pages in the final production, allows the reader to compare the stylistic choices of Wither and Rollenhagen. Bound at the HM studio in decorative blue paper over boards, with a white paper spine and gilt spine title. Fine.