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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: 62z.---Initial capital letter ``Z'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-z-q80-198x200.jpg "[picture: 62z.---Initial capital letter ``Z'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62z.—Initial capital letter “Z” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “Z”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. Appropriately for the end of the alphabet, this drop cap Z shows the end of the world and the bodily [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62i.---Initial capital letter ``I'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-i-q90-202x200.jpg "[picture: 62i.---Initial capital letter ``I'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62i.—Initial capital letter “I” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “I”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It is also used for “J.” It features a skeleton (Death) in the guise of an old woman, tugging at a man, a duke, with his [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62v.---Initial capital letter ``U'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-v-q75-194x200.jpg "[picture: 62v.---Initial capital letter ``U'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]")
62v.—Initial capital letter “U” from Dance of Death Alphabet
This decorative initial letter “U” or “V”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It shows a man on horseback [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62e.---Initial capital letter ``E'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-e-q75-200x200.jpg "[picture: 62e.---Initial capital letter ``E'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]")
62e.—Initial capital letter “E” from Dance of Death Alphabet
This decorative initial letter “E”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It features a skeleton, representing [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 62f.---Initial capital letter ``F'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-f-q75-204x200.jpg "[picture: 62f.---Initial capital letter ``F'' from Dance of Death Alphabet.]")
62f.—Initial capital letter “F” from Dance of Death Alphabet.
This decorative initial letter “F”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. Two grinning skeletons, representing Death, are attacking an empress sitting in her throne; one of the [...] [more...] [$]
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