Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), distinguished humanist and legal scholar, launched a new genre, the emblem book, that combined classical epigrammatic poetry forms with themes from the medieval bestiary. Emblem books proliferated throughout western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and were didactic, rather than devotional, in nature. Alciato’s
Emblematum liber, as it was commonly known, was a best seller in both Reformation and Counter-Reformation countries and remains among the most reprinted books in history. We recently acquired a 1576 edition from Lyon entitled,
Diverse imprese accommodate a diverse moralita con versi che i loro significati dichiarano.... Tratte da gli Emblemi dell' Alciato with 180 woodcuts.
“In Adulatores,” or “On Flatterers,” compares the flatterer who “feeds on the wind of popular approval” with the chameleon, who “is always breathing in and out with open mouth the bodiless air on which it feeds” and takes on the appearance and coloration of those around it.
Judy Garland, the iconic singer and entertainer, playing pool in a frat basement at Dartmouth?? Who knew?? Well, the Alpha Theta scrapbook in Rauner Library contains photos and news clippings and a note signed by Miss Garland to the brothers. She came in January of 1967 and spent four days in Hanover, accompanied by Tom Green, class of '60, former president of Alpha Theta and assistant editor of the Daily Dartmouth, who had been working with Miss Garland on her autobiography. Shortly after their visit to Hanover, Miss Garland announced that she was engaged to marry Mr. Green (he would have been husband number five). They planned to marry at Dartmouth and then honeymoon in Europe. The magic that Hanover worked on Miss Garland did not last and the marriage never took place. We would surely love to hear Mr. Green’s description of their visit but alas, he is no longer with us. We must settle for the account found in the Daily Dartmouth (January 11, 1967).
