Egerton 1910, fol.1 Title page from 'Leviathan, or the matter, forme and power of a...

An allegorical drawing serving for a title-page, and corresponding with the engraved title-page of the printed edition of 1651. The drawing shows a a giant crowned figure above a city, clutching a sword and a crosier. The torso and arms of the figure are composed of human faces. The lower portion is a triptych, framed in a border. The center form contains the title on a curtain. The two sides reflect the sword and crosier of the main figure – earthly power on the left and the powers of the church on the right. Each side element reflects the equivalent power – castle to church, crown to mitre, cannon to excommunication, weapons to logic, and the battlefield to the religious courts. The giant holds the symbols of both sides, reflecting the union of secular and spiritual in the sovereign, but the construction of the torso also makes the figure the state.