Dialogo dell'imprese militari et amorose
Paolo Giovio's dialogue on military and amorous imprese, edited by Lodovico Domenichi and printed in Venice by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari in 1557 for courtly readers who devised and read heraldic emblems. The woodcuts are printer's ornaments and historiated initials: symmetrical headpieces built around frontal masks, scrolling volutes and fruit swags, and letters filled with small figures playing lutes or riding animals, all in coarse black line usable as drop caps, rules and small spot decorations.
