This flower and crown border image comes from all places, a scholarly work about fire and salt from 1649. It was printed in London and is written in English that is a bit of a blend between Old English and the more modern English that we use. It included words like downe, drawne, designes and drawes. The author spent a great deal of time on philosophy and scripture – my guess is that he was talking more about fire and brimstone than the elements.
Regardless of the author’s intentions, someone held onto this book for over 360 years. And, in it we discover this wonderful chapter heading and flower and crown border. It reminds me a bit of the modern doodles that are so popular right now where flowers, leaves and other elements are used to fill space in a decorative manner.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
