Printed Book with Silva Nuptialis Bonis Referta Non Modicis 1521

This is a printed book with the title Silva Nuptialis Bonis Referta Non Modicis, by Johannes Nevizanus. Bound in what appears to be tooled leather, this book engages with a history of marriage. If we consider that during the time of its creation, marriage was less about love and more about economic alliances, we can begin to consider how the book and its cover reflects the socio-political context of marriage. On the cover, we see what appears to be a virgin and child above a field of what might be supplicants. Consider how the book itself, dealing as it does with marriage, becomes a kind of supplicant. Consider that at this historical juncture a woman's primary social role was to marry and produce heirs, we can see the book as reinforcing the social, religious, and political structures of marriage. The imagery and the text work in tandem to reinforce a very specific, culturally determined idea of what marriage should be, one that still haunts us today.