Book excerpt: Antwerp and Amsterdam were among the most active publishing centres for emblematic forms in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Nowhere else was the emblematic mode more integrated into the literary and artistic culture than in the Low Countries. The essays are revised versions of papers presented at the Fourth International Emblem Conference held at Leuven in 1996. The table of contents provides an overview of the variety of topics and approaches represented in the volume.