Epithalamium symbolicum conjugibus Porphyrogenitis, Serenissimo Potentissimoque Ferdinando III, Hungarorum, Boemorumque regi, &c. Serenissimae Mariae, Reginae, Hispaniarum Infanti, &c. Archiducibus Austriae, &c. Cum Viennae Austriae praesentibus, volentibus Augustisiss: Impp: Ser.mis Archiducibus Ferdinando II, Felice, Pio, Victorioso, Triumphatore. Eleonora Mantovana. Leopoldo Austriaco Tyrolensi. Claudia Florentina. Leopoldo Gulielmo, Primate, Archiepiscopo, Epipscopo. Maria Anna, Caecilia Renata, Regias nuptias solenniter orbe triumphante nuptias agerent, in Laetissimam Adgratulationem, Debitisq; honoris aeternum monimentum, dicatum, dedicatumque ab Archiducali Collegio Societatis Jesu Graecii

4to (260x190 mm). [206] pp. Woodcut ornaments and 50 half-page engravings of emblems in the text. Later marbled boards, sprinkled edges (spine reinforced, worn and rubbed). Ownership notes on the title page, stamp of the Law Academy Library of Kaschau (Košice) in Slovakia. Margins cut short, small restored hole to the last leaf slightly affecting a woodcut ornament, marginal soiling and foxing, some occasional staining.

Extremely rare first and only edition, of this fascinating emblem book issued by the Jesuit College of Graz (Academia Graecensis Societatis Jesu) on the occasion of the marriage of the son of the Emperor to Maria Anna of Spain. The unusually vivid engravings are unsigned. Some American allusions are included.

“Another entirely different and peaceful aspect of the lives of the Habsburg rulers in the 17^th century likewise inspired a number of emblem books and prints: imperial weddings. Epithalamic panegyric publications were an equally favoured medium for expressing admiration for the ruler in a decisive moment of dynastic history, in which marriage was expected both to ensure political alliances and to provide an heir to the throne. Such books and brochures addressed to the Habsburg emperors were indeed numerous in the 17^th century. Here I will present two examples of epithalamic panegyric emblem books produced by Jesuit authors, both of which can be associated with Croatia. The first is […] the book Epithalamium Symbolicum Leopoldo I. Augusto oblatum, printed in Graz in 1631. The book […] was dedicated to King Ferdinand III (1608-1657) and his fiancée Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646), and produced by the Jesuits from the College of Graz, who proudly emphasized the fact that Ferdinand had been their pupil and that they considered their college as his own. Educated until the age of eleven by the Jesuits of Graz, Ferdinand became King of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, King of Bohemia in 1627, and succeeded his father as the Holy Roman Emperor in 1637. On the 20^th of February 1631, Ferdinand III married his first wife, Archduchess Maria Anna of Spain, the youngest daughter of Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. After her death, the Emperor married two more times. This book, a collective product of the Jesuit College of Graz, contains 50 emblems with accompanying epigrams and explanations. The name(s) of the author(s) of images are not known, neither is the name of the engraver who prepared them for print. The number 50 was symbolic: it was the number of years wished to the royal couple, and when they passed, they should be repeated once more. The content of the emblems reveals a typical mixture and fusion of humanist and religious scholarship: they abound in motifs from classical symbolism and mythology, including various astrological and zodiac symbols, with political allusions to the relations between Austria, Spain, Hungary and Rome, all to the benefit of the Catholic faith and the Empire. Thus, the emblem TUA POMA NEPOTES shows two intertwined apple trees full of fruit, a symbol of the Austrian-Spanish alliance, which also alludes to the desired offspring of the imperial couple. The emblem AEDIFICAT DOMUM symbolizes the connection between all Habsburg lands – the heraldic symbols of various imperial territories (with Croatia and Dalmatia frontally positioned to the right) are depicted on square column bases. In the centre, there is the archducal coat of arms with a lyre on top. It is, as explained in the commentary, Amphion’s lyre, which could bring dead stones to life with its gentle sound and make them build themselves into the walls of Thebe. This is an allusion both to the musical affinities of Ferdinand III and to his role in building up the Empire. The emblem DELICIAE REGIBUS symbolically extols the faith, the Eucharist, the name of Jesus, and thus the Society of Jesus itself. It recalls the delights of Christian piety (pietas), which are already enjoyed by the royal couple. At the same time, these are the delights of Austria and all its provinces, represented by cypress trees with coats of arms at their base, trees that grow in a perfectly ordered garden. Members of the college address a personal invocation to the royal couple in the emblem entitled VOTA COLLEGII. Above an altar bearing the double sign of Christ’s name, two hands hold rings with diamonds, which touch each other and have droplets falling from them, kindling the altar fire. An extensive commentary extols the good deeds and magnanimity (munificentia) of “Austrian virtue”, to which the Jesuits respond with eternal gratitude. This as well as other emblems with the name of Jesus, the Jesuits’ own symbol, identify them symbolically with the virtus and pietas austriaca, while their gratitude corresponds to the authority bestowed upon them by the imperial house through its benevolence. The Jesuits of Zagreb, who were closely connected to the collegium Gracense, may have used this and other collections of emblems as sources for their own occasional production of similar symbolic content” (M. Pelc, Panegyric Emblem Books, Jesuits and the Habsburg Emperors: Some Examples Related to 17^th-Century Croatia, in: “Rad. Inst. povij. umjet.”, 43/2019, pp. 63-64).