Clarissimi uiri Iginij Poeticon astronomicon

Morris found inspiration for the printed ornamentation used in his books in the work of Erhard Ratdolt, an early printer from Augsburg, Germany. Ratdolt used large borders and initials to adorn many of the books he produced. He is also famous for producing the first known printer’s type specimen sheet, which showed how his fonts might look printed on the page. This copy of Hyginus’s Poeticon astronomicon shows Ratdolt’s use of woodcut initials and illustrations, paired with printed Gothic type.

When Morris created the Chaucer and Troy types, he was inspired by the fonts he saw in incunabula (early printed books) like this one. Ultimately, he wanted to create a more readable Gothic type that still maintained a historical resonance with the fonts he saw in early printed books. This reflects Morris's greater goal of creating objects of beauty that were more accessible to a great variety of people.