Dichiarationi, et avertimenti : poetici, istorici, politici, cauallereschi, & morali
This 1616 Milanese book, Dichiarationi, et avertimenti, by Francesco Birago, is a learned commentary on Torquato Tasso's poetry, aimed at literary and courtly readers. The pictures are four small square printed initial letters (C, C, P, M), each framed by dense black scrolled foliage and fleshy ornament around a pale centre. A designer might take from them the idea of a bold, heavy ornamental border that frames a single letter as a compact graphic unit.
