This rare emblem book is titled “Piae Considerationes ad Declinandum a Malo et Faciendum Bonum, Cum Iconibus, Viae Vitae Aeternae”, which means Pious Considerations for Turning Away from Evil and Doing Good, with Icons, the Way to Eternal Life”. It was written by Antoine Sucquet (1574 - 1627), a Belgian scholar and leading member of the Jesuits in the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of northern France and western Germany), this edition was published in 1672, and along with his Testamentum Christiani hominis (1625), this work provides complex visions of Heaven and Hell through  a combination of text and images.
The book has been rebound, probably in the 1700’s or 1800’s, it has five raised bands with gilt lettering and gilt devices on the spine, brown boards, marbled paste-downs, pencilled notes on the blank page opposite the title page, the engraved title page says the book was published by the Jesuits in Vienna (societate IE SV Viennae, Austraie) in 1672 (MDCLXXII), the text and illustrations are printed within ruled borders, there are 32 full-page emblems as called for, as well as the title page, all engraved by Boetius a Bolswert (Boetius van Bolswert, ca.1580 - 1633), the celebrated Dutch artist, with Roman numerals and Arabic numbers at the top of the page following each engraving, there’s a five-page preface (Praefatio ad lectorem), the last page of the preface is inscribed “1689”, then a two-page index (Index Rerum), one page addressing the Abbot of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits], that page says the book will be reviewed by the Censors of the Society, the text is in Latin, with an errata page on the last leaf at the rear, and a red topstain was applied by the publisher. 
Sixteenth century emblem books followed a tripartite form of motto (titulus), image (pictura) and poem (subscriptio), and the form changed in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries when Jesuits like Antoine Sucquet, Paolo Aresi, and Jan David placed emblems as headers before chapters featuring sermons and additional texts. The Jesuit order published numerous emblem books, thereby expanding the reception of the genre, and these meditational emblem books enjoyed fair popularity and became part of the religious practice of both the church and lay institutions. These emblem books embraced the theme of good and evil … will you be going to Heaven or Hell when you die, and how could you ensure you’d be going to Heaven? … and the emblems functioned as meditative prompts. 
The book measures 7 x 5 inches wide and is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages, text, and engravings. The gilt on the spine has faded a bit and the tips on the boards are slightly turned in, there are faint brown spots in the margins, and we are not sure why the marbled endpapers were not extended to the first blank endpapers when the book was rebound, but we can find no evidence of the endpapers being torn out. 
WorldCat says there are only ten copies of this title in Special Collections around the world, but we checked and found only five copies listed: at Salem Libraries in Winston-Salem, NC, Duke University in Durham, NC, Indiana University in Bloomington, The University of Maryland in College Park, and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in Indiana. Two are listed on microfilm at other sites and three are not listed in their holdings anymore. 
One copy sold at PBA Galleries in 2019 for $750, and it had wear, loss at the extremities, and insect damage, one copy is selling online for about $200, but that copy only has 30 engravings, another copy is selling for $535, and other titles by Sucquet are selling online for $890 (Via Vitae Aeternae from 1625) and about $1500 to $3700. 
 

All items are sold AS IS. Lot and condition details are for descriptive purposes only. Sarasota Estate Auction is not responsible for errors and/or omissions of condition. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is perfect or free from wear, flaws, or characteristics of age. Please bid according to your own expertise, or request any additional information and/or photographs you deem necessary.