Happy Title page Tuesday! The title pages of many early modern books included small woodcut illustra
Happy Title page Tuesday! The title pages of many early modern books included small woodcut illustrations, and this one, from Vosciscus Fortunatus Plemp’s Ophthalmographia, is no exception. If you look very closely, you’ll notice that this illustration features a musical score. The words read “Laudate dominum omnes gentes,” which is the opening line of Psalm 117 and translates to “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.” The Psalms are often attributed to King David, and the figure kneeling before the music is dressed in the ermine robes associated with Renaissance kings and holds a harp, the instrument most closely associated with the Biblical David. In this instance, the image doesn’t relate to the intellectual content of the book; it was most likely associated with the printer, Hieronymous Nempaeus. -- source link
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