Le nobilta, et eccellenze delle donne, et i diffetti, e mancamenti de gli hvomini : discorso
A 1600 Venetian treatise by Lucrezia Marinella on the nobility of women and the faults of men, printed by Giovanni Battista Ciotti of Siena. The four decorative initials here are woodcut letters with dense foliage, scrollwork and interlace, in a sturdy Renaissance style. A designer could draw on their carved vine scrolls, knotted strapwork and hatched shading for ornamental capitals, borders or frames.
