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Die Bücher-Ornamentik Der Renaissance (Vol. I.) (page 1/6)

details...
[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.)

Author: Butsch, A. F.

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.

Some sample images

[picture: Decorative initial letter I]

Decorative initial letter I

A decorative initial capital letter “I” used as a drop cap at the start of a chapter. This was probably cut into [more...] [$]

[picture: 62i.---Initial capital letter ``I'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]

62i.—Initial capital letter “I” from Dance of Death Alphabet.

This decorative initial letter “I”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It is also used for “J.” It features a skeleton (Death) in the guise of an old woman, tugging at a man, a duke, with his [...] [more...] [$]

[picture: captions for plates 57--64]

captions for plates 57 – 64

The captions are in German, and I cannot understand them. If you want to send them to me (UTF-8 please!) I’ll put the transcriptions up on the pages for the corresponding plates. [more...] [$]

[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...] [$]

[picture: 62c.---Initial capital letter ``C'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]

62c.—Initial capital letter “C” from Dance of Death Alphabet

This decorative initial letter “C”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. it features an emperor in the clutches of two skeletons, or Deaths, one of [...] [more...] [$]


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