The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus. Usually depicted as having two faces, Janus is the god of beginnings, passages and duality. German typographer Johnn Setzer, active in France during the beginning of the 16th century, used a depiction of a two-faced bearded Janus as his printer device. The example provided here is from an edition of Theocritus (Haguenau, 1530). Following a common practice of the period, Setzer signed his edition with both a latinized (Iohannis Secerius) as well as a hellenized version of his name (Ιανός Σεκέριος -Ianos Sekerios).
Collection: Bibliotheca Graeca of Sakos Ikonomopoulos