Alciati, Emblemata, 1542 (B3v)

The border on this emblem woodblock is broken along the top edge, perhaps because the woodcut was damaged. This emblem served as the basis for the printer's device used in this book and passed down through the Wechel family.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1589 (Z6r)

The mise-en-page is cramped in this book---the main text extends right up to the headline, rather than leaving an empty line or two between them.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1661 (2E1r)

This is the first of five full pages of commentary on Alciati's emblem "In astrologus"---a marked expansion from its first appearance in print in 1531.

Alciati, Emblemata, 1661, (2D8v)

In the 1621, a printer in Padua published an edition of the Emblemata that included commentary from a handful of writers---Claude Mignault, Francisco Sanchez de las Brozas, Laurentius Pignorius, and Federicus Morellus---as well as additional emblems. This 1661 edition is a page-for-page reprint of the earlier Tozzi edition, attesting to the volume's popularity.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, 1661 (A1r)

This title-page shows an impressive array of bracket styles, joining together both the two theaters and the two authors.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, 1661 (A1v)

On this verso of a title page, the publisher has included a list of his publications for sale.

Boethius, Arithmetica, 1492 (2a1v)

The text of this edition begins "Incipiunt duo libri de Arthimetica" but the title of the book is taken not from this phrase, but from the title label on the previous page. The space for the initial letter, like others in this volume, has been left unfilled.

Comenius, Orbis, 1685 (O1v-O2r)

This opening from a popular Latin textbook uses different typefaces to set apart the English and Latin phrases and to call attention to the vocabulary words that are illustrated on the facing page.

Dowland, Songes, 1597 (π2r)

The dedication begins with a large, historiated initial "T", a woodcut depicting a sailboat.

Lodge, Euphues, 1634 (A1r)

John Smethwicke's printer's device features a bird known as a smew holding a scroll reading "wick" in its beak: smew + wick = Smethwick.