Theses medicae de gonorrhoea virulenta ...
A Latin medical dissertation on virulent gonorrhoea by Joannes Fridericus Staedel, printed at Strasbourg (Argentorati) in 1695 with Staedel's own press and sent out as a thesis. The picture is a decorated woodcut initial A with foliage and scrollwork set beside the opening lines of text, showing how a historiated capital can anchor a page of dense black type. A designer could take from it the contrast between a heavy ornamental letter block and light running text, plus the leafy interlace that fills the square frame.
