The ten papers in this volume were all presented at the first International Conference "The European Emblem", held in Glasgow in August, 1987 under the auspices of the Society for Emblem Studies.The conference included papers discussing most of the major European languages in which emblem books flourished, and the papers selected for the presented volume represent something of the variety and scope of current scholarship in this field.Subjects dealt with include a protoemblematic Latin translation of the Tabula Cebetis, the Emblematum Liber by Andreas Alciat, the earliest reception of the 'Ars Emblematica' in Dutch, the career of Thomas Palmer, Daniel Cramers 80 Emblemata moralia nova, and the Emlimata of Polockij.The papers selected for this volume demonstrate the vigor and variety of work in this field, whilst also suggesting some of the directions and opportunities for further research.