Giornale de' letterati. 1687
A 1687 Italian periodical printed in Parma, the Giornale de' letterati, a learned journal of reviews for scholars, held by the Wellcome Library. Its pictures are small woodcut historiated initials, each letter framed in a box with a scene inside, such as a figure with a sword or a seated scholar beside a desk, plus a decorative ornamental Q. A designer could take ideas for compact letter-shaped frames and the way a tiny narrative scene can sit inside a capital.
