The Sacred theory of the earth : containing an account of the original of the earth and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consumation of all things
Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth is a 1719 London cosmogony by Thomas Burnet, printed for John Hooke and aimed at readers of early theological and natural philosophy. Its pictures are small letterpress ornaments: black-line foliate cartouches with scrolling acanthus leaves, a central shield or sunburst, and framed horizontal strips of flourished scroll work. A designer could take from them the dense symmetrical scroll rhythm of early eighteenth-century printers' flowers and borders.
