The history of the Royal Society of London, for the Improving of Natural Knowledge
Thomas Sprat's 1667 history of the Royal Society of London, printed in London by T.R. for J. Martyn and J. Allestry, is a learned natural-philosophy text written for an educated English readership. Its pictures are small letterpress woodcut ornaments: a heraldic achievement with supporter lions and a motto scroll, a flowered oval border, a crowned lion and unicorn beside a royal crown and thistle, and a large decorated capital F beside a letterspaced KING headline. A designer could draw on their compact, rule-based woodcut borders and heraldic symmetry for period-style emblems and initials.
