De naturae diuinis characterismis, seu, Raris & admirandis spectaculis, causis, indiciis, proprietatibus rerum in partibus singulis vniuersi, libri II
Cornelius Gemma's two-book Latin treatise on portents and hidden signs in nature, printed by Christophe Plantin at Antwerp in 1575 with woodcuts cut by Antoine van Leest and Gerard Janssen van Kampen for physicians and learned readers. The blocks mix comet and meteor shapes, labelled sun-earth-rainbow diagrams with a human-faced sun, and opened abdomens, placentas and a curled fetus, all built from fine parallel hatching and keyed letters that designers can lift as isolated emblems or diagram parts.
