Le manuel des artistes et des amateurs, ou, Dictionnaire historique et mythologique des emblêmes, allégories, énigmes, devises, attributs & symboles, relativement au costûme, aux murs, aux usages & aux cérémonies : contenant tous les caractères distinctifs & l'explication de chaque sujet naturel ou moral, sacré ou profane, historique ou fabuleux, dont on peut faire usage dans la poésie, la peinture, la sculpture, l'architecture, le dessin, l'ornement & la décoration, &c. : ouvrage utile aux poëtes, aux artistes & aux amateurs des beaux arts
A four-volume French dictionary of emblems, allegories, devices and symbols compiled by Jean Raymond de Petity and printed in Paris by the widow Simon for Costard in 1770, addressed to poets, painters, sculptors and architects seeking correct attributes for their subjects. The woodcut ornament is typographic rather than illustrative: rocaille headpieces and tailpieces with flower baskets, trailing ivy and scrolled cartouches, initial letters set on hatched grounds, and small trophy groups of eagles, wings, arrows and laurel usable as rules, dividers and spot devices.
