De la pirotechnia : Libri X. doue ampiamente si tratta non solo di ogni sorte & diuersita di miniere, ma anchora quanto si ricerca intorno à la prattica di quelle cose di quel che si appartiene à l'arte de la fusione ouer gitto de metalli come d'ogni altra cosa simile à questa
Vannoccio Biringuccio's treatise on mining, smelting, casting and fireworks, printed in Venice by Curzio Navò in 1540 for metalworkers, founders and mining men. Alongside technical woodcuts of furnaces, bellows, moulds and foundry work sit decorated initials crowded with grotesque beasts, bearded masks and scrolling foliage, cut coarsely in heavy black for reuse as letterforms or spot ornament.
