Decoding the Page: Emblems, Ornaments, and Early Modern Reading

This event will highlight the collaborative project involving Emblematica (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), a digital library of emblem books, and Compositor (University of Birmingham), a database of printers’ ornaments. Both databases use digital technologies to explore the early modern text-image interface, investigating how historical readers engaged with visual motifs. Dr. Hazel Wilkinson hypothesizes that “emblem-literacy” caused readers to engage with ornamented books in ways previously unaccounted-for in scholarship. This event is open to the public and all audiences are welcome! Refreshments will be served.