Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens
A 1584 Paris edition of André Thevet's portraits and lives of illustrious Greek, Latin and pagan men, printed by the widow of J. Kervert and Guillaume Chaudière for a learned readership. The four pictures are decorative initial letters, E, L, P and P, built from dense interlacing scrollwork, leafy tendrils and stylised foliage in black on white. A designer could take from them a model for ornamental capitals, filling letterforms with vine-like interlace and calligraphic flourishes.
