La Valize ouverte
La Valize ouverte is a French satirical or moral prose work by Jean de Préchac, printed in Lyon in 1680 by F. Amaulry, probably for a general reading public. Its four pictures are woodcut printers' ornaments rather than scenes: a large foliate initial A, a foliate initial M with fern-like strokes, a vase-and-winged-lion tailpiece, and a symmetrical scrolled cartouche with flowers. A designer could draw on their dense leafy borders, black-and-white strapwork and hand-cut line work for decorative capitals and headers.
