L'Abrégé des secrets chymiques ou l'on void la nature des animaux vegetaux & mineraux entierement decouverte
A 1636 French medical and alchemical treatise by Pierre Jean Fabre, a Montpellier-trained doctor, published in Paris by Pierre Billaine and aimed at physicians and learned readers interested in chymical secrets. Its pictures are letterpress decorative initials built from leafy vines, foliage, flowers and fruit in black woodcut on cream paper, with a dedicatory opening and a title page that a designer could borrow for botanical ornament and historic type layout.
