Doctrinae Christianae compendium : seu, Commentarii catechetici
A 1585 Latin theological work, a commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus with additions by Simon Goulart, printed at Cambridge for Reformed Church readers and later owned by John Adams. The pictures are repeated decorative printers' initials, each a letter inside a square frame of paired scrolling sea-creature or griffin-like figures with a swag above and a fleshy acanthus base, in crisp woodcut line on cream paper. A designer could take the symmetrical framing device and the dropped-letter structure as a model for monograms or drop-cap panels.
