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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.
A printer’s ornament, or, more likely, a calligraphic decoration. The name fleur-de-lys, or fleur-de-lis, may derive from the iris flower found on the banks of the River Lys in France, although the flower itself has had spiritual, religious and heraldic significance for much longer. This is a greatly simplified version, and with three unequal branches [...] [more...] [$]
53.19.—Decorative stylised tree
A printer’s ornament, or, more likely, a calligraphic decoration, in the shape of a small bush, tree or shrub. [more...] [$]
53.19.—Decorative stylised tree (embossed leather version)
A version of the tree symbol (originally taken from plate 53) which I embossed onto a leather book cover, to give an idea for a use for the image. [more...] [$]
53.27.—Decorative Border Motif
Perhaps this design was taken from a border in a calligraphic manuscript? [more...] [$]
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