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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: 40
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Title Page]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/000-title-page-q90-140x200.jpg "[picture: Title Page]")
The title page has been printed in two colours, and includes an ornate decorative border, which I also made available as separate images in green-brown (most like the original), black (easiest to re-use) and red (because people seem to like red pictures the best). [more...] [$]
![[picture: Plate 62, Dance of Death Alphabet (overview)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-alphabet-overview-q75-129x200.jpg "[picture: Plate 62, Dance of Death Alphabet (overview)]")
Plate 62, Dance of Death Alphabet (overview)
Plate 62 is Holbein’s Dance of Death alphabet. I am making the individual letters available at higher resolution; this image is just a place to put the notes and to let you get a feel for the whole alphabet. [more...] [$]
![[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...] [$]
![[picture: 62e.---Initial capital letter ``E'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Butsch-RenaissanceOrnament/wm/big/062-hans-holbein-1523-death-letter-e-q75-200x200.jpg "[picture: 62e.---Initial capital letter ``E'' from Dance of Death Alphabet]")
62e.—Initial capital letter “E” from Dance of Death Alphabet
This decorative initial letter “E”, or drop cap, is from an alphabet designed by Hans Holbein and dating from 1523. It features a skeleton, representing [...] [more...] [$]
![[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...] [$]
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.
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