Emblem Book of Antoine du Bourg.

An early illustrated emblem book, written shortly after the first publication of Alciati in 1531.
50 leaves (the last 3 blank), 20-22 lines in brown ink, ruled in red; collation: i + 53 + i leaves
Original foliation in ink 1-20 omitting leaf after fol.12, later foliation in pencil 21-51 correcting earlier omitted leaf, occasional remains of earlier foliation in lower left margin of rectos.
Nineteen miniatures, each headed by a motto in liquid gold on a red scroll.
The motto on fol. 44v is a pasted replacement.
The subjects of the miniatures and their mottos are: fol. 3v: White elephant killed by a serpent, motto 'Mea me victoria vincit'; fol. 6v: One old brown palm tree and two younger green ones, motto 'Mors quoque vita nova est'; fol. 7v: Two trees, one bearing fruit the other flowering, on either side of a rock, motto 'Sine fructu plurima florent, et sine flore ferunt fructum multa'; fol. 9v: Two men, one on the ground, his broken sword at his side; the other holding him by the arm while slitting his wrist with a dagger, motto 'Vulnus opemque fero solus'; fol. 11v: An adult ape in a tree, two young ones having fallen to the ground, motto 'Sic pignora chara parentum indiscretus amor perdit prodestque neglectis'; fol. 13v: Two men fighting with swords and shields, motto 'Prodit plerumque gerentem scutum'; fol. 16v: Two men in armor, one holding the other; a white horse has its hooves on the one's shoulder and is biting the man, motto 'Iustus dolor iraque quos non reddit acres'; fol. 19v: Young man striking an older man with a meat cleaver; two other men at a table are eating severed body parts, motto 'Pietas crudelis amorque impius est multis'; fol. 22v: Two jousting horsemen, one fallen, his horse reaching for a crested helmet, motto 'Et iam sua gloria honosque bruta capit'; fol. 26v: A group of dark-haired older men and a group of white-haired younger men, motto 'Non coma sola facit nigra vel alba sene'; fol. 29v: Two men at a smithy: one hammering a piece of iron on an anvil, the other stoking the fire with bellows, motto 'Sic ferro ignique probatur que vera est virtus'; fol. 31v: Man playing bagpipes before a tomb, motto 'Blanda dulcedine cantus torpentes animos ciet'; fol. 33v: A panther eating a dead animal while other animals watch, motto 'Sunt noxia plurima que vis delectent pascantque oculos'; fol. 35v: A hunter blowing a horn, with two dogs, motto 'Invidus ipse inviso ut noceat nocet et sibi'; fol. 37v: A white elephant, its eyes bleeding, with a serpent coiled at its feet; a dragon giving birth to another dragon in the background, motto 'Superas astutia vires'; fol. 39v: Blindfolded semi-nude Venus sowing seed, motto 'Sic enecat orta ut nova producat Venus'; fol. 41v: Three ships at sea before a city, motto 'In pelago terreque urbesque recedunt'; fol. 43v: An ostrich eating a horse-shoe, a donkey eating flowers, and a bird eating a frog, motto 'Non idem dulce cuique dulcia sunt aliis alia'; fol. 45v: A man and a laden camel on the back of another camel, motto 'Et bruta iniusta recusant pondera et excutiunt'
Artist: Nicolas Duprat or Dupré.
The prefatory dedication is 'Ant. a Burgo Franciae cancellario N. a Prato', that is: to Antoine du Bourg, Lord Chancellor of France (from 1535 until his death in 1538), from N. Du Pré/Dupré/Duprat. The latter may be a relative of du Bourg's predecessor, Cardinal Antoine Duprat (he had an illegitimate son called Nicolas), or possibly the Nicolas Dupré who was a printer and bookseller in Paris in the early 16th century.
This is plausibly the only record of this text, as there are no known printed versions. Each of the nineteen miniatures has a caption in the image, followed by a description of between two and five pages explaining the meaning of the emblem.