FOBO - Typographic Ornaments (page 1/2)

Some sample images

[picture: Index, pointing hand, or manicule]

Drawings of hands, often with arms attached, were added to mediæval manuscripts by people who used them; the hands were used to draw attention to particular passages of interest. [more...] [$]

Stock block: two dancing harlequins

This vintage art pair of jesters are two men dressed as harlequins, or clowns; the one on the left has a hat with bells on it and carries a punch-and-judy style stick with a head on the end; the one on the right wears a devil costume on his head and has a wide ruff or collar [...] [more...] [$]

stock block: scales, or equal-arm balance.

In an equal arm balance like this one you can compare the weights of things in the two pans; often you use a set of standardized weights in one pan and add them until the lever at the top is level, [...] [more...] [$]

Stock block: deer skull

This vintage woodcut of a deer skull looks almost like a Cthulhu monster or the “Kraken”. [more...] [$]

Stock block: Victorian railway engine and tender

No source is given for this 2-4-0 steam engine US: railroad locomotive) and it’s not clear whether it is a drawing of an actual engine and tender or just a generic one. [more...] [$]

The typograpic ornaments and “stock blocks” or “stock cuts” here are taken from The Little Book of Typographic Ornament by David Jury (Laurence King Publishing Ltd., 2015). I may add more later that are from other sources.

The book shows ornaments going back to the 1700s and includes access to download 300dpi digital images; these have been dithered, making them hard to re-use; I’ve processed them to give them clean edges.

Note: If you got here from a search engine and don’t see what you were looking for, it might have moved onto a different page within this gallery.

Typographic Ornaments (page 1/2)

Some sample images

Tags in this source:

Places shown: