Joh. Joachimi Beccheri ... Physica subterranea profundam subterraneorum genesin e principiis hucusque ignotis ostendens : opus sine pari, primum hactenus et princeps
Johann Joachim Becher's Latin treatise on subterranean chemistry, reissued in 1738 at Leipzig by the Weidmann press with Georg Ernst Stahl's commentary, for scholars of mineralogy and early chemical theory. The plates shown here are letterpress ornaments rather than diagrams: symmetrical woodcut headpieces and tailpieces of strapwork knots, scrolled brackets, urns and laurel-and-berry sprays, printed in black line on toned laid paper and usable as dividers, crests or frame elements.
