Bible, Church Slavic, 1581 (fol. 1r)

The opening of Genesis is marked off with an elaborate woodcut headpiece, clearly separating the text of the Bible from the prefatory materials.

Bible, English, 1611 (A1r)

The King James Bible uses a complex typography to signal which words or phrases are not from the source material but have been added in translation (those in roman type), printed notes in roman type for cross referencing between different books, printed notes in italic for translation notes, and headnotes for each chapter providing summaries to help with quick navigation.

Cato, Moral distichs, 1735 (A1v-A2r)

On the blank page shown here, you can see the raised letters from the impression of the type used for the title page.

Dowland, Songes, 1597 (π2r)

The dedication begins with a large, historiated initial "T", a woodcut depicting a sailboat.

James I, By the King, 1611

This broadside uses gothic type (or black letter as the English often called it) for the main text of its announcement, as is typical for official English documents, with roman type setting off the names of the escapees.

Keimer, Elegy, 1723 (1r)

Because broadsides weren't typically bound into books but rather distributed as single sheets, they often have very high loss rates. This is the only known copy of Keimer's Elegy, which Benjamin Franklin describes in his Autobiography as having unusually been composed as Keimer set the type. This was the first work that Keimer published in America, and Franklin's first known printing job in Philadelphia.

Shakespeare, First Folio, 1623 (nn4v)

The opening of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s First Folio; like the rest of the plays in this book, the start of the play is marked off with a headpiece and an initial letter.

Vincent, Discouerie, 1622 (¶2r)

The author's letter to the subject of his critique is set off with a headpiece and an initial letter. Atpically for English books, the prefatory material is signed with a pilcrow (¶).