The elements of architecture
Sir Henry Wotton's The Elements of Architecture, the first English treatise on building, printed by John Bill in London in 1624 for gentleman readers and patrons drawing on Vitruvius and Italian practice. The images here are letterpress ornament rather than plans: black-line woodcut initials filled with curling acanthus and small birds, plus a narrow headpiece band of winged mermen flanking a central sprig, usable as drop caps, rules and spot ornament.
