INTRODUCTIONOVERVIEWCHRONOLOGYCATALOGBIBLIOGRAPHYRESEARCHSEARCH
If you eye wel and marke these silent poesies, give eare to these speaking pictures. Introduction
An emblem book is a collection of images with adjoining text. In an emblem there is a dialog or tension between image and word. Emblems are frequently allegorical in theme. Emblem books are a form of text not altogether familiar to us today. An emblem book represents a particular kind of reading. Unlike today, the eye is not intended to move rapidly from page to page. The emblem is meant to arrest the sense, to lead into the text, to the richness of its associations. An emblem is something like a riddle, a "hieroglyph" in the Renaissance vocabulary -- what many readers considered to be a form of natural language. The English Emblem Book Project of the Penn State University Libraries' Electronic Text Center is in the process of making this older form of text, the emblem book, available within a newer form of text, the World Wide Web. Introduction briefly explains the definition of an emblem book. Overview presents a picture of the project as a whole, including technical specifications, details on the parties involved, feedback and progress. Chronology provides a timeline for the publication of English emblem books from the Renaissance to the late 19th century. Catalog contains the gateway to the emblem books online. Bibliography presents the bibliographic records of emblem books online. Research lists websites and sources for further investigation. Search allows the user to search the texts of emblem books. |