Le Bon françois
A French language primer from 1614 of unknown publisher and place, held by the Boston Public Library, whose only picture here is not an illustration from the text but a bookplate for the Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston, dated 1852-1873. The engraved oval shows two nude figures flanking an open book and a shield, framed by a laurel wreath and a ribbon bow, with the Latin motto Lux Omnium Civium. A designer could take from it a classical emblem style of symmetrical figures, laurel borders and Latin mottoes for civic seals.
