Vignette

. This word, literally “little vine,” was originally applied to small copperplate engravings used to embellish title-pages, it being a fashion of the French engravers to surround such designs with a running border of vine leaves. The word is still specifically applied to the small engraving on a title-page, though the vine-leaf border in such a position has long since been discarded. Generally, it includes any kind of engraving or ornament not enclosed in a definite border. This limita­tion of meaning is not, however, observed in typography. An ornament is none the less a vignette because it takes the form of a shield or a medallion or any other figure. The word “vignette” should not be applied to diagrams or illustrative designs or initial ornaments—but to a picture introduced solely for decorative purposes.