Our earliest specimens are taken from the works of Ratdolt, whose books are also renowned for their beautiful borders, which in some cases match in style the initials that accompany them. This style is even more effective in the border than in the letters, as can be seen by reference to his Appianus of 1478, the first page of which is reproduced in Butsch’s _Bücherornamentik_. The three outline initials, much more artistic in our opinion than the interlacing letters of Aldus, are from Ratdolt’s first alphabet in the _Calendarium_ of J. de Monteregio of 1476. The border of this book is frequently mentioned in the earlier monographs upon the first printers as being composed _literis florentibus_, the initials being of the same design. It is supposed by Passavant that these letters were designed by Ratdolt’s partner, Bernard Maler or Pictor, _i.e._ Bernard the painter, and executed by another German engraver. Ongania, in his work on Venetian printing,[25] has also reproduced four of these initials, the whole alphabet, as far as it is complete, in Ratdolt’s impressions, being given in a monograph on Ratdolt by Mr. Redgrave.[26] Later on we find this printer preferring larger sized initials with a white pattern on a black ground, smaller letters of the same general design being used in some volumes. The later publications being also more frequently met with, these large black initials are also more commonly known and are more characteristic of Ratdolt’s work than the others. They became one of the recognised types for Venetian typography, and were imitated more or less by other Venice printers, in the same way that the Maiblümchen pattern was adopted as one of the most suitable for the early German press. [25] _L’art de l’Imprimerie à Venise._ [26] ‘Erhard Ratdolt and his Work in Venice’--_London Bibliographical Society_. In a volume by Jacopo Publicio called the _Oratoriae artis epitomata; ars memoriae, ars epistolandi_, and which has numerous other cuts, there is a curious alphabet in which each initial is represented by an emblem serving to fix the letter on the memory. As far, however, as we know, this alphabet, which is engraved on one block, consists of specimens of letters useful in mnemonics, but which have never served in books as ornamental initials. They are only mentioned here as a typographical curiosity.