THE WOODCUT INITIAL LETTER was used to decorate the pages of rare books published in the late 15th to mid-16th centuries. Sometimes they related to the subject matter, but not always as the printers would re-use their woodblocks. Initial letters depict a variety of...
HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO, when the early books were printed, initial letters were used to decorate the page. They signaled the beginning of a paragraph or page of text, usually in a very grand way. These decorative initial letters were engraved in wood and called...
I never thought I would be doing this….writing a blog about rare books, the printers that published them and the decorative Initial Letters found in them. These Initial Letters are pieces of art designed by the best craftsmen of the time. They were meant to...
