Dell'elixir vitæ
An Italian treatise on distilling an elixir of life, written by the Dominican apothecary Donato d'Eremita and printed at Naples by Secondino Roncagliolo in 1624 for physicians, apothecaries and alchemical practitioners. The plates run to woodcut initials filled with curling acanthus, buds and small beasts, alongside matter on stills and medicinal plants; the letters supply a ready alphabet of foliate capitals at rough, high-contrast letterpress weight.
