Early woodcut initials; containing over thirteen hundred reproductions of ornamental letters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
A reference compilation by Oscar Jennings, published by Methuen in London in 1908, gathering more than thirteen hundred reproductions of ornamental initial letters cut in wood by fifteenth- and sixteenth-century printers, assembled for typographers, printers and students of the early book. The plates show square and rectangular initials printed in solid red, with white letterforms reserved against grounds of foliage, rosettes, grotesque faces, birds and dragons, offering designers ready-made drop caps, corner florets and high-contrast silhouette ornament.
