Donne, Juvenilia, 1633 (F1v, raking light)

Imaged under a raking light, this blank page reveals a great deal more texture than images usually do, including wrinkled (or cockled) paper, vertical wire lines, the bite of type as it pushes out the paper from the other side, and the bite into the paper from some uninked (or blind) type in the middle of the page ("These eleven Paradoxes"). Some copies of this edition have this imprimatur inked and legible; others, like this one, seem not to have included it, although the type was clearly left in the forme even if it didn't print. (Compare this image to the one under usual flat lighting to see how different lighting shapes what we see.)

Donne, Juvenilia, 1633 (F1v)

This blank page is surprisingly busy. There's ink bleeding through from the other side (you can see the running title "PARADOXES" at the top and the signature mark "F" at the bottom of the page) but there's also offset from the facing page ("PROBLEMS", the title of the next section). It can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between bleed-through and offset in digital images if you can't also see the facing page, but one clue is to look for different colored ink. But if you look at this page under raking light, you'll see there's even more going on than is apparent in this image.

Dove, A new almanack, 1631 (A1r)

Since almanacs featured the location of astrological bodies, they were most accurate for specific geographical locations. This title page for Dove specifies that it is calculated for Cambridge. The use of red ink was typical for almanacs, both on the title page and in the content.

Dove, A new almanack, 1631 (A2v-A3r)

This almanac shows a typical combination of information: dates of the month, the dominical number, saints days and other festivals, the positions of various astrological features, and space for the user to write their own notes. But this almanac is atypical in that it survived---huge numbers of almanacs were printed, particularly in the 17th century, but most were discarded at the end of the year and lost to posterity.

Dowland, Second booke of songs, 1600 (A2r)

Dowland's dedicatory letter to the Countess of Bedford follows a layout that mirrors manuscript letters; note that his signature is set in a lowly and humble position at the bottom of the page.

Dowland, Songes, 1597 (L1r)

This page of music was printed so that four musicians could stand around a table sharing the book. The music itself was printed from tiny pieces of metal type, each with the 5 bars of the staff and a note; lined up in a series, the pieces of type formed a series of musical notes.

Dowland, Songes, 1597 (π1r)

A woodcut title page for John Dowland's collection of songs.

Dowland, Songes, 1597 (π2r)

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

Faithorne, A perpetuall ephemeris (1655)

Although engraved and etched plates in books tend to be primarily of images, intaglio techniques can also be used to write text, as in this perpetual calendar. For more on how this calendar works, see Erin Blake's post "Happy New Year's E" in The Collation.

Fletcher, Thierry, 1621 (C1v corr.)

This page shows the corrected version with all of the proofreader's indicated changes on the proofsheet made. This copy of the play provides a useful comparison of this process since a former owner has, unusually, bound in the proofsheet immediately following this correctly printed page (reversing the leaf so that the two versos face each other).