The three authors of the work Symbola divina et humana, the humanist and historian Jacobus Typotius (1540 – 1601), the physician Anselmus de Boodt (1550 – 1632) and the engraver Egidius Sadeler (ca. 1570 – 1629) were active at the court of Rudolf II in Prague. The three parts of their joint work on symbols and mottos of popes, emperors and kings, churches and secular princes are coloured first editions with magnificent title pages, in part with gold reliefs. Each part is dedicated to a different significant contemporary, the first part to Rudolf II's brother, Archduke Maximilian III (1558 – 1618), the second part to the Bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein (1570 – 1636), and the third part to Doge Marino Grimani (1533 – 1605). The first and second parts are separated by Typotius’ comments on the various types of rulers’ mottos.
The ornamentation of the copy with punched gilt edge and the gold embossed binding, in which the three parts were bound together, suggest that this was probably the personal copy of one of the dedicatees.
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