Phaëton; tragedie mise en musique
This is a 1683 printed libretto and score of Lully's opera Phaëton, with words by Quinault, issued by Ballard in Paris, printer to the King for music, and sold at the door of the Académie royale de musique. The two pictures are engraved typographic ornaments: a dense oval cartouche of putti, a seated musician and a Latin motto, and a symmetrical headpiece with a winged cherub face between flowering urns and a ribbon bow. A designer could draw on their dense baroque scrollwork, cherub motifs and symmetrical framing for historical border or title-page work.
