This Festschrift, edited by John T. Cull and Peter M. Daly, celebrates the life and work of Pedro F. Campa, one of the most respected scholars in the field of Spanish emblem studies. Campa’s instrumental Emblemata Hispanica: An Annotated Bibliography of Spanish Emblem Literature to the Year 1700 (1990) followed by an addenda et corrigenda, subsequently published in Emblematica 11 (2001), provided an encompassing perspective of the vast amount of materials available in the discipline. The present volume is a long-due recognition of Campa’s contributions to emblematics in general and Spanish emblem literature in particular.

As the editors indicate, the majority of the essays were previously presented at the Emblem Sessions in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Campa played an important role at this annual conference that has taken place for more than thirty years. In Nocte Consilium is carefully edited. Almost all of the eighteen essays in the volume include four to six high-quality black-and-white illustrations. All essays are pertinent to experts of emblematics, thoroughly documented, and eloquently written. It is worth mentioning that John T. Cull in collaboration with the authors translated all essays into English that were submitted in Spanish. This remarkable effort brings attention to established Spanish scholars who rarely publish in English.

The volume is divided into three parts followed by an appendix. The overarching topics of the collection are “Hispanic Emblems and Literature,” “Bibliography and Emblem Theory,” and “Emblems, Emblematic Images and Numismatics.” The content of the essays derives from a variety of methodologies and traditions that go beyond the strictly emblematic approach. Some studies focus on the relationship between emblems and literature and specifically on the symbolic bestiary of Calderón de la Barca (Ignacio Arellano), Lope de Vega’s Las Alamenas del Toro (Frederick de Armas), and Shakespeare’s Cymbeline (Alan R. Young). José Azanza López examines the correspondence between Philip V and Sister María de Ágreda and Christian Bouzy addresses the Latin sources of Juan de Horozco’s emblem book. A strong interest in iconography is clear in articles devoted to the “Heart of the King” in Baltasar Gracián (Aurora Egido), the apocalyptic motif of the Whore of Babylon (José Julio García Arranz), the fig tree and its fruit (Rafael García Mahíques), and the iconography of Truth in a Russian emblem book (Antonio Bernat Vistarini and Tamás Sajó). Other studies offer new information about the life and works of Spanish emblematists such as Juan de Horozco (Rafael Zafra) and on the impressive collection of urban emblems by Daniel Meisner (Víctor Mínguez and Inmaculada Rodríguez). Lubomír Konečný’s essay is devoted to Bohuslav Balbín’s emblem theory while Peter M. Daly’s study focuses on the total number of emblem books. Bárbara Skinfill Nogal provides a complete review of the Spanish-speaking scholarship on Picinelli’s Mundus Symbolicus. Michael E. Bath’s study is dedicated to the use of engraved medallion portraits in carved wooden panels and Joseph F. Chorpenning studies a Salesian document that brings light to the Mystery of the Visitation. Bernard Deschamps explores the long-lasting impact of emblematic forms in an essay about Quebec’s 1995 Referendum Campaign. Finally, Sabine Mödersheim’s fascinating article on Isabella de Spiritu Sancto’s Herzbücher, gives testimony to a beautifully illustrated manuscript devised by one of the very few known female authors of emblem books.

The quality of the volume and its impressive range of subjects, traditions, and approaches reflect the research interests of Pedro Campa himself and his scholarly commitment. His diligence is a reflection of the emblem that gives the collection its name: In Nocte Consilium (“deliberation in the night”), which displays Sebastián de Covarrubias’s rendition of the legendary owl of Minerva on top of a book. To achieve a heroic deed in arms or letters, diligence, prudence and a willingness to lose sleep are necessary. This is what the emblem conveys to the reader. The volume pays homage to the interdisciplinary nature of Pedro Campa’s work and the extent of his influence in the field.