El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha
A 1605 Spanish edition of Cervantes's novel printed in Madrid by Juan de la Cuesta, here reproduced from a University of Toronto copy held by the Hispanic Society of America. The four pictures are decorative woodcut initial letters set in scrolled, cartouche-like frames with hatched shading, most likely used to open chapters. A designer could borrow their interlocking spiral corners and flat hatched tonal blocks as a framing device for a display letter.
