Galleries: index · 
· 
![[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: 40
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: 62x.---Initial capital letter ``X'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-x-q75-195x200.jpg "[picture: 62x.---Initial capital letter ``X'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62x.—Initial capital letter “X” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “X”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. Death and the devil are hanging out around the gamblers. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Eros (Cherub with Bow)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/023-eros-cherub-with-bow-q90-267x200.jpg "[picture: Eros (Cherub with Bow)]")
An Eros, or cherub with a bow, from this ornate Renaissance border, a woodcut title page of a 1516 book. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62b.---Initial capital letter ``B'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-b-q87-200x200.jpg "[picture: 62b.---Initial capital letter ``B'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]")
62b.—Initial capital letter “B” from Dance of Death Alphabet
This decorative initial letter “B”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It features two skeletons, or death-figures, a dog and a pope. Some commentators say the dog is actually a demon, [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62a.---Initial capital letter ``A'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-a-q87-198x200.jpg "[picture: 62a.---Initial capital letter ``A'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]")
62a.—Initial capital letter “A” from Dance of Death Alphabet
This decorative initial letter “A”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein the Younger and dating from 1523. It features a skeleton banging a drum (or tabor) with a bone, and also playing a fife, followed by another skeleton waving a banner, or possibly playing a trumpet. Some commentators say they are marching through a graveyard [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62m.---Initial capital letter ``M'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-m-q75-201x200.jpg "[picture: 62m.---Initial capital letter ``M'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62m.—Initial capital letter “M” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “M”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It shows a doctor of physician in his study or laboratory, holding up a vessel. Behind him, Death (the skeleton) reaches for the doctor, with one bony hand on his shoulder and the other on the vessel. Or, possibly, Death [...] [more...] [$]
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.
Note: If you got here from a search engine and don’t see what you were looking for, it might have moved onto a different page within this gallery.
