Ornamenti della gentil donna vedova
An Italian conduct book for widows, written by Giulio Cesare Cabei and printed in Venice in 1574 by Christoforo Zanetti for gentlewomen in mourning. Its pictures are woodcut historiated initials: ornate letters in boxed frames, some filled with interlaced strapwork and scrolling foliage, one with a bearded laurel-crowned man in profile, offering a designer compact decorative capitals and border-framed letter forms to adapt.
