L'Encyclopédie des beaux esprits, contenant les moyens de parvenir à la connoissance des belles sciences
A seventeenth-century French encyclopedia of learning, compiled by Saunier and printed in Paris in 1657 at the author's own expense, aimed at readers seeking the means to master the fine sciences. Its pictures are small woodcut ornaments and one engraved map: the repeated ornament shows a central cherub head framed by scrolled foliage, pendant tassels and cross-shaped drops, while the map of Spain has a cartouche lettered HESPAGNE. A designer could take the symmetrical scroll-and-foliage frame as a compact model for a centred vignette or border.
