Album Amicorum of the 16th-17th Centuries
Listed below are resources to for researching Album Amicorum of the first half of the early modern period, ranging from 1500-1650. Album amicorum, known as 'autograph books' or a 'book of friends', were books compiled by young aristocrats who wished to visually collect and display signatures and illustrations of people they have met, befriended, or seen on their travels. Beyond souvenirs and sentiment, these books functioned as visual records and displays of the creator's social capital; giving insight into their travels, and acting as evidence of an expanded (early modern) social network, and giving insight into the complex social relationships, in addition to everyday life of the period.
Ketterer Kunst Dictionary: Description and scope of an album amicorum, or Stammbuch.
Digitized Album Amicorum: A complete digitized album amicorum of Abraham Ortelius, 1527-1598. This digitized resource is provided by University of Cambridge.
Album Amicorum of Moyses Walens: This fantastically, and beautifully illustrated album amicorum was made by Moyses Walens of Cologne, between 1605 and 1615. This digitized version is provided by the British Library.
Album Amicorum of a German Soldier: This album amicorum of an unknown German soldier produced in Italy in 1595 gives an insight into life across 16th century Italy, and contains images of the nobility, the military, and religious life in Rome.
Religion, the supernatural, and visual culture in early modern Europe : an album amicorum for Charles Zika: by Jennifer Spinks. Boston, 2015.
The Album Amicorum & the London of Shakespeare's Time : by June Schuleter. The British Library, 2011.
Trumpeters and diplomacy on the eve of the Thirty Years' War: the "album amicorum" of Jonas Kröschel: by Stephen Rose. The Journal of Early Music, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2012 (Article provided by JSTOR)
Diary of an Obscure German Artist with (Almost) No Friends: by David Brafman. Getty Research Journal, No. 6, January 2014, pp. 151-162 (Article Provided by JSTOR)