The institution of christian religion
Calvin's The Institution of Christian Religion, printed in London in 1561 by Reinolde Wolfe and Richard Harrison, is a Reformed theology text, and these pictures are its decorated initial letters: a large B or N set in a dense black field of ornament. The B initials are built from a pale letterform framed by scrolling foliage, interlace and small grotesque creatures, a dense woodcut texture a designer could borrow for dark, ornamented capitals.
