Pia desideria : tribus libris comprehensa
Pia desideria is a 1657 Latin emblem book printed in Antwerp by Lucas de Potter, written by the Jesuit Herman Hugo and illustrated by Boëce van Bolswert, for devotional readers. Its pages pair a framed engraved scene with a Latin Bible verse beneath, showing biblical figures such as angels, a soul in a river and a woman turning away in architectural settings. A designer could draw on the clean line engraving, the tight framing of small figures against open landscape, and the way text and image are set together on the page.
