De la recherche de la verité : où L'on traitte de la nature de l'esprit de l'homme, & de l'usage qu'il en doit faire pour éviter l'erreur dans les sciences
Malebranche's philosophical treatise on the nature of the human mind and how to avoid error in the sciences, printed in Amsterdam in 1688 by Henry Desbordes and later owned by John Adams. The four pictures are the same small printed ornament of a floral tuft, with scrolled acanthus-like leaves rising to roses and a central blossom, repeated with slight variations in outline and shading. A designer might take from them a compact, symmetrical vignette for a tailpiece, a corner fill, or a decorative separator in a historical text layout.
