ABSTRACT
Red is the chief Colour that is used with Black in Book-Printing: of Reds there are two sorts in general use, viz. Vermillion and Red-Lead: Vermillion is the deepest and purest Red, and always used to Books of Price. In their groundbreaking article 'The Materiality of the Shakespearean Text', Margreta de Grazia and Peter Stallybrass call attention to what can be gained by considering the matter from which the early modern play-text is produced. In the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, as in earlier periods, red ink was used in texts to differentiate information and to emphasize that which was important. Central as epitome and in actual layout, the anatomical image confirms Renaissance notions that the male body serves as the locus of medical knowledge. Despite a medieval manuscript tradition that at times included a female version alongside the male, printed almanacs contain only a masculine zodiacal figure.
