Demonstrating that long-term, collaborative research is vital to deeper understanding in all fields, The Emblemata Politica in Context: Georg Rem's Manuscript at the Newberry Library is a digital resource that provides new insight into a classic piece of German history. This project was made possible through the efforts of numerous librarians, scholars, and researchers, especially Mara R. Wade of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lia Markey, Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library (previously featured in the 06-12-2020 Scout Report). Their work has resulted in this digital resource, a "hybrid book" that is sure to intrigue historians, linguists, philologists, and paleographers alike. It contains a copy of Rem and Peter Isselburg's Emblemata Politica (1617), which depicts emblems from the Great Hall of the Nurnberg town hall, one of the most sophisticated collections of wall and ceiling decorations in Europe. Isselburg's original work depicted many of these emblems, but divorced them from their intended context, which Rem's manuscript attempted to rectify. From the page linked above, visitors can begin to navigate the digital resource by clicking "Begin with 'Introduction.'" From there, readers can jump to specific pages using the links in the Contents section or go through the resource in order by clicking the blue button at the bottom of each page.
Comments