Grazia Maria Grazi
Rime, e versi latini … sopra il ratto delle Sabine: Scolpito in marmo dall'eccellente Giambologna
Florence, 1584
5000.c.65(2)

Paper wrappers did not afford the physical protection of sturdy wooden boards, but were a sensible choice for a pamphlet like this (verses on a marble sculpture in Florence). By the eighteenth century even these came to be lavishly decorated, either with marbled patterns, painted designs or gilding, as in this beautiful—probably Italian—example. The design of scrolling acanthus leaves was printed onto the paper with an engraved roller or wooden block. This ephemeral sixteenth-century pamphlet was, by the eighteenth century, rare and desirable, qualities reflected in its spectacular rebinding.