So this is the third time in less than a year that I've linked to content posted on Bibliodyssey; that's a very strong hint that you should add it to your feed reader and regularly get blown away by the beautiful and rare antique images that peacay finds and posts there.
In this case, it's a late sixteenth-century "grotesque" alphabet by Italian artist Giacomo Paolini. Remember that mythological abcedary I made from found graffiti a couple years ago? Yeah, well somebody had already down something way better than that practically half a millennium ago: Bacchus, Cadmus, Dedalus and Icarus, Ganymede, Hercules, Lyacon, King Midas, Narcissus, Orpheus, Romulus and Remus, Theseus. If only the files were bigger, you could do some incredible things with these. As they are, they'll make another pretty good coloring book for the kid. I tracked down the ones that weren't posted on Bibliodyssey and posted them here (click on each image to see more detail):
This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.