Popularized in Germany in the mid-1500s, a liber amicorum (or "book of friends") was an early form of autograph book exchanged among friends, colleagues, and classmates to share drawings, poetry, and personal messages.

Johann Heinrich Gruber's Liber amicorum features illustrations and writings from 1602 to 1612, and reflects Gruber's connections in Augsburg, Lyon, Nuremberg, St. Gall, and other cities. Gruber was a merchant in Nuremberg who owned a factory in Lyon, and the entries in his liber amicorum include representations in watercolor and gold of allegories, genre scenes, emblematic designs, and monuments. Highlighted among the monuments are the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, and the Maison Carrée and the Pont du Gard in Nîmes.