‘To delineate with most skillful hands’

Abstract

Chapter 3: ‘To delineate with most skillful hands: illustration and the printed works of Thomas Willis’ explains methods for illustrating the printed works. The engraved frontispieces, three allegorical and one depicting Willis and his circle dissecting a human body, are described. Variations of the engraved portrait, first drawn by David Loggan, are documented. The features of 416 separate ornaments, used by twenty-three printers, are described. These include engraved title pages, head and tail pieces, fleurons and decorated capitals. The provenance and details of forty plates illustrating the texts, including work by Christopher Wren, their different states and copies ‘borrowed’ by other authors are documented. Many illustrations of each type are included. The chapter concludes with one table summarizing the number of images, printers’ plate, and leaves found in a complete copy; and another comparing the states used for each book described in the bibliography. {142 words}