A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs (page 1/3)

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Detail: engraved heart

A wood engraving of a heart, taken from a $ this chapter head woodcut. [$]

Initial letter B Woodcut

A decorative initial letter “B” used as a drop cap (drop capital) at the start of a paragraph. The woodut (or wood engraving) [more...] [$]

Chapter Heading woodcut featuring a flaming heart

This decorative woodcut was used at the top of the first page of a chapter or section, as a decorative element. It features a heart on a pillar; there are flames bursting out of the [...] [more...] [$]

Chapter head with musical instruments

Chapter headpieces like this were very popular in the eighteenth century; they remained in widespread use into the early 20th century as a low-cost way to make a book appear more expensive than it really was. There was quite a market in the engraved printing-blocks such as the [...] [more...] [$]

Chapter Heading Woodcut Featuring Soldiers on Horesback with Spears

A decorative woodcut from above the section entitled Proverbs and Proverbial Observsations cocerning Husbandry, Weather, and the Seasons of the Year. It is not related to the text. The engraving features a battle of warriors or soldiers with spears and shields. I suspect it is based on the carved side of an ancient Hellenistic (Greek) sarcophagus thought [...] [more...] [$]