Moxon, Mechanick exercises, 1683 (F4v)

In the empty space at the end of a section in his book on printing, Moxon places an advertisement for volume one of Mechanick Exercises. He describes the book in terms of the number of sheets and illustrations that make it up, and that the price is given for it as gathered but not bound.

Ogilby, Aesop, 1668 (pg. 47)

Ogilby's version of Aesop's Fables uses the margins for extensive annotations.

Ogilby, Aesop, 1668 (pg. 48)

The blank space on this page decisively separates the fable and its moral.

Patousas, Aesop, 1644 (sig. L4v)

A woodcut illustrating Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow, which in this book is printed to face the illustration (you can see the text here).

Patousas, Aesop, 1644 (sig. L5r)

A modern Greek translation of Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow; there is an accompanying illustration on the facing page

Philipott, Aesop, 1666 (sig. 2Q2r)

This bilingual edition privileges the Latin text with the majority of page space, but presents the English version in rhyming verse. Along with the intricate engraving, the different modes may have made this book appealing to people of varying levels of schooling.

Ruban, Kratkaia letopis Malaia Rrossiia, 1777 (И5)

The 6 in the headline's 1736 and the 6 in the same date in the third line of the text both are missing the same area of print on the bottom of the number. It can't be the same piece of type, since both 6s need to be in the forme simultaneously. But perhaps the matrix used to cast the 6s in this font didn't have a deep enough strike to cast the number correctly.

Ruban, Kratkaia letopis Malyia Rossii, 1777 (Д2)

This page shows the distances between one postal town and another, broken into sections and totaled at the bottom of each table: from Galukhov to Pereiaslavl is a total of 255 versts. The rules are used here as vertical lines to help keep the columns of information discrete.

Shakespeare, First Folio, 1623 (I2v)

Since this play ends part-way down the page, the remainder of the space is taken up with ruling and a decorative tailpiece.

Soldini, Anima brutorum, 1776 (a8r; Getty)

The opening of each chapter in this book features intaglio initial letters, the colors of which vary from copy to copy. In this copy from the Getty, a blue ink is used, but in the Smithsonian's copy, the initial letter is printed in sienna. (The plates facing this page also differ in the two copies; search "Soldini" to compare.)