Emblem books, normally containing about one hundred picture/text combinations, each consisting of a woodcut or engraving accompanied by one or more short texts, were intended to inspire their readers to reflect on a general moral lesson derived from the reading of both picture and text together. The picture was potentially subject to numerous interpretations: only by reading the text could a reader be certain which meaning was intended by the author. Emblem books, both secular and religious, attained enormous popularity throughout continental Europe, though in Britain they never captured the imagination of readers to the same extent. Especially numerous in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, they are also common in France, where Andrea Alciato published the first emblem book, the Emblemata.
