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A huge thank you to all who donated in 2025; 2026 Q1 Web hosting 0 / $400; planning a move to much cheaper hosting this quarter.
Galleries: index · 
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![[picture: Book cover, Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/tn/000-Front-Cover-q75-350x500.jpg "[picture: Book cover, Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)]")
Engravings from “Die Bücher-Ornamentik Der Renaissance” (Book-Ornament of the Renaissance) by A. F. Butsch, Leipzig, 1878. Alfred Butsch was a famous bookseller and a collecter of antiquarian books; the engraved plates in the book reproduce illustrations from early printed books.
I bought my copy of this book (actually Volume II hasn’t arrive yet!) from a bookseller in Germany; there is also a fac simile by Dover, but the reproduction is not of the highest quality, so these images are better, if very incomplete.
I also have Volume II.
Title: Die Bücher-Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)
Published by: Verlag von G. Hirth
City: Leipzig
Date: 1878
Total items: 48
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: 62h.---Initial capital letter ``H'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-h-q75-198x200.jpg "[picture: 62h.---Initial capital letter ``H'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62h.—Initial capital letter “H” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “H”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It depicts a skeleton, representing Death, dragging off a bishop. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62q.---Initial capital letter ``Q'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-q-q75-202x200.jpg "[picture: 62q.---Initial capital letter ``Q'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62q.—Initial capital letter “Q” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “Q”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. The skeleton figures in the alphabet represent death. This letter, Q, includes an illustration in which a skeleton, representing Death, is leading a nun away; she [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: Book cover, Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/000-Front-Cover-q75-140x200.jpg "[picture: Book cover, Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)]")
Book cover, Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.)
This ornamental book cover, with its baroque border, is marked Munich (München) 1922; presumably the book was either rebound or reissued in 1922. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Plate 3, Page with foliated border from 1478]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/003-foliated-border-from-1478-q85-145x200.jpg "[picture: Plate 3, Page with foliated border from 1478]")
Plate 3, Page with foliated border from 1478
A reproduction of a page from a book printed at the office of Erhart Ratdolt in Venice in 1478, Pomponii Melle Cosographie de situ orbis liber primis. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62l.---Initial capital letter ``L'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-l-q75-201x200.jpg "[picture: 62l.---Initial capital letter ``L'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62l.—Initial capital letter “L” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “L”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It features a skeleton, representing Death, standing on the left, [...] [more...] [$]
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