Alceo : favola pescatoria
A printed book issued in Venice in 1592 by Giovanni Battista Bonfadino, the work of Antonio Ongaro (1569-1599), a fishing-themed poem titled Alceo, held by the Getty Research Institute. The picture is a small decorative woodcut initial, a letter O framed by a square border of leafy scrollwork and a circle of foliage, printed in heavy black on pale paper. A designer could take from it a compact, rough-edged frame of interlaced vines suited to historical ornament, drop caps, or vintage letterpress borders.
