L'abregé des secrets chymiques ou l'on void la nature des animaux vegetaux & mineraux entierement découverte : avec les vertus et proprietez des principes qui composent & conservent leur estre; & un traitté de la medecine generale. Par M. Pierre Jean Fabre, docteur en la faculté de medecine de l'université de Montpellier.
A 1636 French chymistry and medicine treatise by Pierre Jean Fabre, a Montpellier-trained doctor, printed in Paris by Pierre Blaise for readers of natural secrets and remedies. These four pictures are decorative woodcut initials, each a large letter framed by leafy scrolls, sprigs and a daisy-like flower, with the letter stems drawn in plain black outline on pale paper. A designer could take from them the interlaced foliage borders and the way a single capital is enclosed within botanical ornament.
