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Galleries: index · 
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![[picture: Front Cover]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/tn/00-frontcover-q75-500x306.jpg "[picture: Front Cover]")
Scans from The Book of Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval collected and engraved by Freeman Gage Delamotte (1814 – 1862); London, Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1879
If anyone is interested, I’ll try and do some better scans of the alphabets and examples of calligraphy and calligraphic initials in this book.
(Note: Mediæval is the older British English spelling of Mediaeval, or Medieval).
The full title page is transcribed alongside its image. This is an oblong octavo with alphabets printed in various colours including red, green and brown.
Title: Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval
City: London
Date: 1879
Total items: 102
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: 53.19.---Decorative stylised tree]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms,Crosses-etc.-img19-tree-q75-233x200.jpg "[picture: 53.19.---Decorative stylised tree]")
53.19.—Decorative stylised tree
A printer’s ornament, or, more likely, a calligraphic decoration, in the shape of a small bush, tree or shrub. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``E'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/051-16th-Century-letter-e-q90-187x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``E'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “E” from 16th Century
This capital “E” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It is taken from a 16th century alphabet, and depicts a dragon with wings and a long tongue, and, in the background, a fleur-de-lys. So maybe it is a French dragon? [more...] [$]
![[picture: 53.30.---iris or square-ended clover decoration]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms-Crosses-etc.-img30-square-ended-clover-q75-206x200.jpg "[picture: 53.30.---iris or square-ended clover decoration]")
53.30.—iris or square-ended clover decoration
Either three petals and a stamen, like a lilly or iris, or perhaps three leaves, like clover; this is a 19th century redrawing of a mediæval decoration from an illuminated manuscript. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 53.22.---Stylised ivy bush]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms,Crosses-etc.-img22-happy-ivy-bush-q75-150x200.jpg "[picture: 53.22.---Stylised ivy bush]")
![[picture: Happy bashful fiery sun face drawing]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/051-16th-Century-detail-happy-fiery-sun-q67-145x200.jpg "[picture: Happy bashful fiery sun face drawing]")
Happy bashful fiery sun face drawing
This reddish-yellow sun face has an out-of-control hairdo and a cute smile; it’s a detail from a Sixteenth Century decorative initial letter “U”. [more...] [$]
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