Historia
Historia is a 1562 Venetian printing of the chronicles of Giovanni and Matteo Villani, issued by the Giunti press and later owned by John Adams. Its pictures are woodcut historiated initials, large letters D, A and C with small scenes inside them: a satyr-like figure beside a stone bench, a man blowing a horn beside an A, and a robed woman holding a cup in a colonnaded setting. A designer could draw on their compact framed-letter compositions, strong black outlines and figures set against hatched skies.
