C. Plinii Secundi historiae mundi libri XXXVII
A 1545 Froben printing of Pliny the Elder's Historia naturalis, the encyclopedic Latin natural history, issued for scholars and readers of classical learning. Its pictures are woodcut historiated initial letters, each large capital framing a figure from antiquity, such as philosophers and heroes labelled by name, set against dense foliage; a designer could take their decorative letter-and-figure framing as a model for display type.
