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Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library
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ALPHABETS
OLDANDNEW
WF0RTEB1T THE PETER TOLLY CO. PmLAIELPHfA
COMPANION VOLUME TO THIS
LETTERING
IN
ORNAMENT
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE DE-
CORATIVE USE OF LETTER-
ING . PAST . PRESENT . AND
POSSIBLE.
OTHER WORKS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
NATURE AND ORNAMENT.
I. Nature: The Raw Material of
Design.
II. Ornament: The Finished Product
of Design.
WINDOWS: A BOOK ABOUT STAINED
AND PAINTED GLASS.
Third Edition.
ART IN NEEDLEWORK: A BOOK
ABOUT EMBROIDERY.
Third Edition.
PATTERN DESIGN.
PENMANSHIP OF THE XVIth, XVIIth.
AND XVIIIth CENTURIES.
ORNAMENT AND ITS APPLICATION.
MOOT POINTS: FRIENDLY DISPUTES
UPON ART AND INDUSTRY.
In conjunction with Walter Crane.
92 7
ALPHABETS
OLDand NEW
FOR THE USE OF CRAFTSMEN,
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
ON 'ART IN THE ALPHABET'
BY
LEWIS Ff DAY
author of 'pattern design,'
' ornament and its application,'
'nature and ornament,' etc.
THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGE!
i wo
v
LONDON :
B. T. BATSFORD Ltd., 94 HIGH HOLBORN
b ^n
\°[\0
CHah
TRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT
THE DARIEN PRESS, EDINBURGH
PREFACE TO THE THIRD
EDITION.
A book of alphabets like this, for the use of
artists and others who have occasion either to
work in the manner of some given period or to
design lettering of their own, needs scarcely any
introductory essay.
I have attempted, however, in " Art in the
Alphabet," to give, as simply as possible, that
amount of information about the Alphabet and its
evolution without which it is not safe for the
designer to depart from too familiar forms.
Fuller particulars of the various alphabets than
it was possible to give in this connected and con-
densed account of the alphabet will be found in the
Descriptive List of Illustrations.
My own ideas on lettering design, enunciated by
the way, are the more frankly expressed because
it must be understood that they are only personal
opinions which the reader will take for what they
are worth.
In the alphabets themselves the spirit of the
old lettering is faithfully kept, though I have not
scrupled to supply missing letters. Scholars will
vi Preface.
of course object to this ; but the book is not for
them ; it is for working artists, who will be glad, I
know, to have twenty-six letters to the alphabet.
A feature in the book is the quantity of illustra-
tions showing the difference it makes in the
character of the lettering, whether it is in wood or
stone, in stuff or leather, in mosaic or stained glass ;
whether, for example in metal, it is cut in, grounded
out, beaten up, onlaid or engraved ; or whether
the writing tool chances to be a chisel or a gouge,
a needle or a brush, a stylus or a pen — and even
what sort of pen it is.
All this is much more fully illustrated than it
was in earlier editions ; and, in particular, the
penmanship of the 17th contury for which I have
been able to draw upon a unique collection of the
famous " Writing Books " in the possession of the
publisher.
" Alphabets Old and New " concerns itself only
with letters and the corresponding numerals. The
decorative use of Lettering in Ornament is the
subject of a separate volume.
LEWIS F. DAY.
15, Taviton Street,
March 1, 1910=
NOTE.
Thanhs are due to Mr. George Clulow for the use
of his valuable collection of old Writing Books, etc. ; to
Messrs. Matthew Bell & Co., W.J. Pearce,J. Walter West,
C. Griffin &> Co., Ltd., J. Vinycomb, Herr von Larisch,
Brindley & Weatherley, Frau Bassermann Nachfolger,
Munich, Martin Gerlach, Ferd. Schenk, and others, who have
kindly permitted the reproduction here of alphabets drawn or
copyrighted by them ; and to the artists who have designed
alphabets especially for this book.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page XI
ART IN THE ALPHABET . . . ,, I
OLD ALPHABETS ARRANGED IN ORDER
of date ...... Fig. No. 54
MODERN ALPHABETS — SHOWING THE
CHARACTER WHICH COMES OF
USING PEN, CHISEL, OR WHATEVER
IT MAY BE ,, l60
MODERN ALPHABETS IN WHICH THE
INFLUENCE OF THE IMPLEMENT
EMPLOYED IS NOT SO EVIDENT . ,, 207
AMPERZANDS AND NUMERALS . . „ 225
INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS, ARRANGED
UNDER ARTISTS, COUNTRIES,
MATERIALS AND PROCESSES, AND
styles Page 253
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
i. greek alphabet— From a MS. — characteristic of the pen.
(Compare the B with 54 and 55, and observe the likeness
of the n to W.) gth century.
2. Coptic ms.— 10th century or earlier. \
3. Coptic ms. — 12th century. V Compare with Greek.
4. Coptic ms. — 14th century. J
5. greek ms. — nth century.
6. roman ms. — Penwork. A has no cross-stroke. Upstrokes
thick and thin. (Compare 30.) 4th century.
7. ms. — Penwork. Round D and M. Ghasatail. 7th century.
8. roman uncials — Penwork. 8th century.
9. "rustic" roman — Penwork. A has no cross-stroke. F and
L, rise above line. E, I, T not easy to read. 5th century.
10. roman capitals — Penwork. R has thin upstroke. 6th
century.
11. roman capitals — Penwork. (Compare square O with 17, 18,
48.) Note " dilation " of strokes. 6th century.
12. byzantine capitals — 7th century.
13. English inscription — From a monument to the sister of
William the Conqueror. 1085.
14. franco-gallic capitals— Heading of a MS. Penwork, of
which the curly quirks are indicative. 7th century.
15. visigothic ms. — Moresque influence perceptible. Note long
and short letters. 10th century.
xii Descriptive List of Illustrations,
16. saxon illumination (Caroline) — 9th century.
17. anglo-saxon engraved forms.
18. anglo-saxon pen-forms — 9th century.
19. Lombard — From the Baptistery at Florence, incised in marble
and inlaid with cement. 12th century.
20. Italian ms. — Beginning of 13th century. (Compare with
120.)
21. Lombard writing of about 1250. Freely rendered.
22. capitals — 15th century.
23. German gothic minuscule or black letter — Rounded form.
15th or 16th century.
24. German gothic minuscule or black letter — Squarer form.
15th or 16th century.
25. black letter — Squarer form. 15th or 16th century.
26. roman capitals cut in stone —Wetzlar. About 1700.
27. minuscule italics — 16th century.
28. roman capitals — From mosaics in the Louvre. The shape
of the letter to some extent determined by the four or three-
sided tesserae.
29. greek letters cut in bronze — From the Museum at Naples.
The engraver has begun by boring little holes at the ex-
tremities to prevent his graver from overshooting the line.
This was constantly done by the Greek die-sinkers, with the
result that in the coins the letters have at their extremities
little raised beads of silver. The fact that where, as in the
A, the already engraved grooves, which form the sides of
the letter, are sufficient to stop the cross-stroke they are
allowed to do so, shows clearly enough the object of these
terminal borings.
30. roman letters cut in bronze — From tables of the law found
at Rome in 1521, now in the Museum at Naples. The digs
of the chisel are rather wedge-shaped. (Compare with the
cuneiform inscriptions, and with 194.)
31. gothic letters— From the cathedral at Cordova. Cut in
stone. The face of the letters is fiat, the ground sunk.
Note the angularity of the forms. 1409. (Compare 82.)
Descriptive List of Illustrations. xiii
32. black letter painted in cobalt upon glazed earthen ware-
In the Victoria and Albert Museum. Chiefly Hispano-
moresque dishes of the 15th and 16th centuries. There is a
fantastic flourishing about the lines which tells of the brush.
(Compare 33.)
33. black letter painted in cobalt upon Italian Majolica drug
pots — In the Victoria and Albert Museum. The flourishes
and foliations tell of the brush. 16th century. (Compare 32.)
34. lombardic inscription cut in brass — The background
characteristically cross-hatched. Nordhausen. 1395. (Com-
pare 77 and 78.)
35. roman capitals painted on wood — From the drawer fronts
in a chemist's shop, now in the Germanic Museum at
Nuremberg. The use of the brush is partly responsible for
the shape of the letters. 1727. (Compare 36, 38, 39.)
36. roman capitals painted on Italian Majolica — In the
Victoria and Albert Museum. Distinctly brushwork. 1518.
(Compare 35, 38, 39.)
37. gilt letters picked out with a point, perhaps the end of a
brush — Spanish estofado. From a frame in the Victoria
and Albert Museum. The ground has been gilded, the gold
leaf covered with a coat of black paint, out of which the
letters have been scraped whilst the pigment was in
condition.
38. roman letters painted on wood — Italian. 15th century.
39. roman letters painted on glazed earthenware — In the
Victoria and Albert Museum. English. 18th century.
(Compare with similar brushwork, 36.)
40. lombardic letters, painted, and showing the influence of
the brush. German.
41. roman letters, executed in copper rivets on a leather
belt. In the Museum at Salzburg.
42. Gothic capitals, cut in brass. From the tomb of Mary
of Burgundy, wife of the Emperor Maximilian. Notre
Dame, Bruges, 1495-1502.
xiv Descriptive List of Illustrations.
43. inscription. The letters, cut out in silver and rivetted on
to silver. Early Gothic.
44. raised letters— Carved in stone, from Bishop West's
Chapel in Ely Cathedral. Ca. 1534. (Compare 115.)
45. lombardic letters— From a stained glass window. From
a drawing by C. Winston. Early Gothic.
46. lombardic letters, executed in cut leather. From an
early Gothic book binding in the Hamburg Museum.
47. capital letters, in stone, grounded out. St. Margaret's,
King's Lynn, 1622.
48. inscription, painted on glass. From a drawing by C.
Winston.
49. ALPHABET — From the inscription on a drinking cup,
engraved on silver. Engraved lines shown in black.
50. embroidered letters — Worked in gold over parchment
upon velvet. From the leading strings of James I.
51. greek inscription, incised in marble upon an antique
bust of Aristophanes in the Uffizi at Florence.
52. crowned lombardic letters — From a stained glass
window in Winchester Cathedral. From a drawing by
C. Winston. The fine lines are picked out of the solid
paint with a pointed stick.
53. letters cut out of glazed tiles and embedded in cement.
From an inscription in the Cathedral at Cordova.
54. GREEK — From an Athenian stele. Marble. Cut in with a
chisel. Characteristically right-lined. Certain strokes
fall short of the full length. The two sides of the stroke
not always parallel, but inclining occasionally to wedge-
shape. The top stroke of T is not stopped by cross-cut,
but runs out. 394 B. c.
55. greek initials — From a book printed at Basel. Wood
engraving. The serif fully developed. 16th century.
56. roman letters cut in marble — From inscriptions in the
Forum at Rome. Characteristically chisel work.
Descriptive List of Illustrations. xv
57. roman — From fragments in the British Museum. Cut in
stone. In E, F, L, P, R, T strokes run out. Note variety
in rendering the same letter. 2nd and 3rd centuries.
58. English, irish, or anglo-saxon — From illuminated MSS.
Curves inclined to take a spiral direction. Considerable
freedom of penmanship . Various forms of the same letter.
Note long tails and unequal length of letters. 6th century.
59. from a codex in Latin — Written between ruled marginal
lines. Cqnsiderable variety in the form of the same letter.
Note the square C and G, and the deep waist of the Band
R, which compare with alphabet 1. 7th or 8th century.
60. galician capitals —MSS. 8th century. (Compare B and
R with alphabets i and 59.)
61. irish — From the Book of Kells. Illuminated. Note square
form of certain letters — the curious D-shaped O and the
general thickening of the upright strokes at the starting
point. Various forms of same letter. 8th century.
62 and 63. anglo-saxon — Various MSS. Forms sometimes
rigidly square, sometimes fantastically flowing. Strokes
developing occasionally into spirals, or into interlacing,
which ends perhaps in a grotesque head. 8th and 9th
centuries.
64. saxon and anglo-saxon mss. — The outline penned and filled
in with various tints. The scribe has not made up his
mind as to any logical use of thick and thin strokes.
Note square C and S, and looser T and U. 7th, 8th, and
9th centuries.
65. ms. letters — More nearly resembling the orthodox Roman
character, with exception of D, E, G, P, U, in which
Gothic characteristics begin to appear, and perhaps a hint
of future minuscule forms. 10th century.
66. French ms. — Initials in colours. More Gothic than Roman,
flourishing into tails of foliation. 12th century.
67. French— From the doors of the Cathedral at Le Puy.
Wood, simply grounded out. Several varieties of letter.
The curved lines characteristically cusped. Probably
12 century. (Compare with 19.)
xvi Descriptive List of Illustrations.
68. German ms. — Initials. Distinctly pen work. Departing again
widely from the square Roman form. 12th century.
69. Gothic uncials — From the Arundel and Lansdowne MSS.
in the British Museum. Written with a rather frisky pen.
English. End of 12th century.
70. letters apparently scraped out of a coat of varnish colour
upon gilt metal — From an altar at Lisbjerg in Denmark.
1 2th century.
71. Gothic uncials — From a Bible in the British Museum
(i5"409). Characteristically penwork. 13th century.
(Compare 69.)
72. Gothic uncials — From the inscription upon a bronze bell
at Hildesheim. 1270.
73. Gothic uncials — From a Psalter from St. Albans, now in
the British Museum (2. B. VI.). Penwork. 13th century.
(Compare 71.)
74. ms. letters — Typically Gothic capitals. "Closed" letters.
Sportive finishing strokes. 14th century.
75. Italian capitals — Drawn by J. Vinycomb. 14th century.
76. incised gothic capitals — From Italy, Spain, and south of
France. About 1350.
77 and 78. gothic inscriptions — From Nordhausen. Cut in
brass. 1395— J397-
79. English gothic inscriptions. Stone. From monument of
Richard II. in Westminster Abbey, and others of same
date. About 1400.
80. English initials — From MS. in the British Museum. On
a background of delicate ornament, penned in red. About
1400.
81. gothic minuscule — From the Church of S. Francesco at
Prato. Simple forms incised in marble and filled in with
cement. About 1410.
82. gothic letters carved in stone — The ground sunk. Spanish.
14th or 15th century. (Compare 31.)
83. penwork — Severe and straight beginning of a type which
eventually becomes excessively flowing and florid. 1420.
Descriptive List of Illustrations, xvii
84. german ms. — Gothic initials. 15th century.
85. german — From an inscription on a monument to Georicus
de Lewenstein in the cathedral at Bamberg. Cut in
brass. Something of a compromise between majuscule
and minuscule lettering. 1464.
86. French — From an inscription on a picture-frame in the
Louvre. The slight but characteristic curling and twisting
of the points of serifs comes of the use of the brush. Note
the recurrence of the square C, more characteristic of an
earlier period. 1480. (Compare 103.)
87. german ms. — Gothic initials. The thickening of the curved
strokes is characteristic. The swelling is not gradual, but
sudden. This occurs in other German MSS. of the same
period. 1475.
88. ms. initials — The terminations again rather frisky. But
letters of this kind (compare also 74, etc.) being usually in
colour, most often red, their tails, etc., do not cause the
confusion in the ranks of writing which they would do if
they were in black. About 1475.
89. painted initials. MSS., German. Ca. 1480.
90. gothic lettering incised in marble — German. 1482.
91. late gothic letters — Wood-carving in relief. Note the
foliation of otherwise simple forms. French. Probably
15th century.
92. initials cut in stone — From various monumental inscrip-
tions (in black letter) at Bruges. End of the 14th
century.
93 and 94. gothic minuscule — From monumental brasses.
Severe and simple forms. End of 15th century.
95. alphabets made up from various monumental inscriptions.
German. End of 15th century.
96. gothic initials — Woodcut. Used with printed type. End
of 16th century.
97. from an inscription on a brass to Duke Albert of Saxony.
Meissen. Something of a compromise between Roman
and Gothic types. 1500.
b
xviii Descriptive List of Illustrations.
98. roman letters — From the inscription on a bronze monu-
ment by Peter Vischer. Nuremberg. 1495.
99. roman alphabet, incised — From inscriptions at S. Croce,
Florence. Early Renaissance.
100. initials — Framed in delicate ornament, penned in red.
16th century.
101. Italian Gothic initials— From a chorale at Monte Casino.
Framed in pen work in colour. 16th century.
102. Gothic capitals — 16th century.
103. painted flemish. Early 16th century. From a lengthy
inscription round the obviously original gilt frame of a
picture of the last Judgment in the Academy of Bruges,
by Jean, Provost of Mons, who died in 1529. Painted
Flemish. The missing letters are given in outline.
(Compare 86.)
104. gothic capitals — By A.lbrecht Durer. Penwork. Early
16th century. (Compare with 105 and no.)
105. German minuscule — Albrecht Durer. Early 16th century.
(Compare with Italian, no.)
106. Italian initials — Broad penwork of late Gothic character.
Neither so rigid nor so florid as the typical German writing
of the period. 15th and 16th centuries.
107. Italian minuscule — By Vicentino. From the original
Writing Book. The penmanship is florid, but not quite
in the way of German flourish. 1523. (Compare with
German, 105.)
108. Italian minuscule — From the original Writing Book, by
Ludovico Vicentino. A good specimen of the so-called
"ribbon letter." When once the carver or engrave
began to consider the broad strokes of his " black letter'
as straps, and to suggest by ever so slight a cut that they
were turned over at the ends (compare 80), it was in-
evitable that he should arrive eventually at this kind of
thing. Florid indeed, but fanciful. Any form of letter
might be so treated, but the treatment is peculiarly suited
to the black-letter form. 1523.
109. Italian capitals — From the original Writing Book by Lud.
Vicentino. The outline of the letters deviates into inter-
Descriptive List of Illustrations. xix
lacings. But the knotting occupies approximately the
natural thickness of the letter ; and, though the outline
is thus broken, the form of the letter is sufficiently pre-
served. This splitting of the letter, as it were, into
ribbons in its thickest parts was not uncommon in 16th-
century initials. It is obvious that any form of letter
might be elaborated after this fashion. 1523.
no. Italian Gothic capitals — After Ludovico Curione. Pen-
work. 16th century. (Compare with German, 105.)
in. Spanish Gothic capitals — From the Writing Book by Juan
Yciar. The forms of the K and Y are unusual. First
half of the 16th century.
112. roman letters cut in marble — Florentine. 15th century.
113. roman alphabet — Engraved by Heinrich Aldegrever. 1530.
114. Elizabethan letterings — From an inscription incised in
wood at North Walsham, Norfolk. (Compare 115 — 133.)
115. quasi-elizabethan alphabet — Freely drawn from wood-
cut initials in various printed books of the period ; but
there is practically no form for which there is not
authority in the old engraved letters. (Compare 44.)
116. Italian gothic minuscule — From the original Writing
Book by Palatino. Straight-lined with elaborately
nourishing extremities. It suggests the engraver. 1546
117. Italian minuscule — From the original Writing Book by
Vespasiano. These letters are exceedingly well shaped.
Observe the second variety of the letter v. 1556.
118. typically Italian renaissance — "Roman" capitals, by
Serlio. 16th century. (Compare with Roman, 56.)
119. German capitals — By Daniel Hopfer. Renaissance or
" Roman " in character, but not without traces of linger-
ing Gothic influence. 1549.
120. Italian initials— From the original Writing Book by G. F.
Cresci. This is a fanciful and rather elegant elaboration
of forms common in Gothic writing. The familiar out-
line is, as it were, ornamentally fretted. 1570. (Compare
with 20.)
b 2
xx Descriptive List of Illustrations.
121. Italian gothic capitals — From the original Writing Book
by G. F. Cresci. Apparently to some extent influenced
by the Roman character. 1570.
122. Italian minuscule — From the original Writing Book by
G. F. Cresci. Roman in character. 1570.
123. Italian gothic capitals — After Cresci, etc. Penmanship
i57o.
124. black letter minuscule — From a rubbing of a memorial
inscription. Flemish. 1579.
125. flemish minuscule — From a memorial tablet at S. Jacques
Bruges. Cut in stone. There is a suggestion of turning
over and interlacing the strokes of the letters, which was
very usual in engraving of the period, whether on brass
or stone. 16th century.
126. roman capitals — From the lace-book of Giovanni Ostaus,
adapted to working on a square mesh. Characteristic of
the method of execution, and not of any period. 1591
(Compare 200.)
127. German — From inscriptions at Bingen and other towns
Cut in stone, showing some licence on the part of the
mason. 1576, 1598, 1618.
128. German minuscule Roman letters — From Bamberg, en-
graved on brass, the background cut away. Observe
the spur on the edge of the long strokes, designed to
accentuate the parallelism of the line of lettering. 1613.
129. German minuscule — From a monument at Wfirzburg
Cathedral. Incised in slate. 1617.
130 and 131. majuscule and minuscule alphabets, from a rare
Writing Book of the 17th century.
132. italics — The sloping form came, of course, from the use
of the pen, but it was largely adopted by the masons of
the 17th and 18th centuries, who copied even the most
elaborate flourishes of the writing-master. 17th century.
(Compare 134 et seq.)
Descriptive List of Illustrations. xxi
133. From inscriptions rather rudely carved upon a beam of elm
now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The incised
line on the face of the letters occurs only in parts.
Letters G. J, K, Q, X, Z were missing. English, dated
1638. (Compare 114 and 115.)
134. pen-written capitals — From "The Pen's Transcendency,"
a Writing Book by E. Cocker, 1660. Cocker was so
emphatically the English writing-master of his day as to
have given rise to the phrase, "According to Cocker."
(Compare this and the following with the stone cut
letters, 142, 143, inspired by them.)
135. pen-written minuscules — From "The Pen's Trans-
cendency," by E. Cocker. 1660.
136. pen-written minuscules — By Lesgret, a writing-master of
Paris. 1736.
137. alphabets and inscription — From * * Magnum in Parvo, "
a Writing Book by E. Cocker.
138. alphabets and inscription — From the " Guide to Pen-
manship," by E. Cocker. 1673.
139. pen-written capitals — From a "Guide to Penmanship,"
by E. Cocker. 1673.
140. minuscules by Maingueneau. Paris. Early 18th century.
141. pen-written capitals, by Lesgret. Paris. 1736.
142. English italic writing — From inscriptions on monuments
in Westminster Abbey. Stone-cutting in imitation of
penwork, not characteristic of the chisel. 1665.
143. English roman lettering — From engraved stone slabs at
Chippenham and elsewhere. 1697.
144. minuscules — From a Writing Book by Shelley. English.
1705-
145. minuscules — From a Writing Book by C. Snell. English
I7I5-
146. minuscules — From a Writing Book by M. S. Andrade.
Portuguese. 1721.
xxii Descriptive List of Illustrations.
147. pen-written alphabets by M. S. Andrade. Portuguese.
1721.
148. German capitals — From the Germanisches Museum,
Nuremberg. Painted on the wooden drug-drawers of
an old apothecary's shop. Brushwork. Observe the
bulging of the curved strokes. (Compare with 149 and
19.)
149. German capitals — By J. H. Tiemroth, of Arnstadt. Pen-
work. From the titles of a series of water-colour paint-
ings of botanical specimens. Observe the swelling of the
curved strokes and compare with 148 and 19. Here and
there a letter shows an inclination to fall into Italics.
1738-48.
150. German lettering — From inscriptions at Osnabriick.
Halting between majuscule and minuscule forms.
Incised in stone. 1742-56.
151. French — A more reticent example of the period of Louis
XV., by E. Guichard, in which it would, perhaps, be
more accurate to say that the shape of the letter is broken
up into ornament. 18th century.
152. French— Of the period of Louis XV., by Laurent. This is
a case in which Rococo scrollwork and flowers are com-
pelled to take the form of lettering, more or less — in this
case the form of current writing. 18th century.
153. modern minuscule — From an inscription etched on litho-
graphic stone by John Tischberger, who was a writing-
master at Nuremberg, 1765-70. The touch is neither
that of the pen, nor of the brush, nor of the chisel.
154. German — From a monument at Wiirzburg. Incised in slate.
Occasional capital letters are mixed up with the minus-
cule. 1784.
155. English — Roman capitals and numerals, by William
Caslon. Printed type, " old face." 18th century.
156. English — Roman lower case, and italic upper and lower
case, by W. Caslon. Printed type, "old face," 18th
century.
Descriptive List of Illustrations, xxiii
157. English courthand — From Andrew Wright's " Court-
hand Restored," a book designed to assist the student
in deciphering old deeds, etc. This book was published
in 1815 ; but the character is at least as early as the 14th
century, and may have been in use a century or more
before that.
158. HEBREW ALPHABET.
159. Hebrew alphabet — Ornamental version. From Silvestre's
' ' Paleographie." Almost identical with a 16th-century
alphabet by Palatino.
160. modern Gothic capitals, executed with a quill — The forms
designed for execution with two strokes of the pen.
Walter Crane.
161. modern majuscule and minuscule, directly written with
the simplest stroke of a quill pen. Walter Crane.
162. modern German gothic capitals (Facturschrift) — Penwork.
Otto Hupp. In the later German character penmanship
ran wild. The lettering is often quite inextricable from the
tangle of flourishes in which it is involved. Herr Hupp
has avoided the utmost extravagance of the national style.
To anyone acquainted with the German character, it is
clear enough which of his sweeping strokes mean busi-
ness, and which are merely subsidiary penmanship. The
happy mean is, of course, to make ornament against
which the letter tells plainly enough. That is attempted
also in 221.
163. MODERN GERMAN GOTHIC CAPITALS — OttO Hupp. From
" Alphabete und Ornamente."
164. MODERN PEN-DRAWN ALPHABET — By Otto Hupp, from
Rudolf von Larisch's "Beispiele Kunstlerischer Schrif-
ten."
165. modern variation of minuscule gothic— Intentionally
rather fantastic, but not intentionally departing so far
from familiar forms as to be difficult to read. L. F. D.
166. PEN-WRITTEN CAPITALS. L. F. D.
xxiv Descriptive List of Illustrations.
167. modern roman italics, majuscule and minuscule, in what
printers call " revived old style."
168. modern roman italic capitals, with something of a
cursive character. L. F. D.
169. modern majuscule and minuscule lettering and numerals,
with more curvature in the strokes than in the typical
Roman character. J. W. Weekes.
170. modern pen alphabet — By Bailey Scott Murphy, architect.
Described by him as " freehand without the use of geo-
metrical instruments."
171 and 172. written lettering — By R. Anning Bell. " The
differing shapes of the same letters in the smaller alpha-
bet depend of course on the letters on either side." Had
they been for type the artist would have made them more
exact ; but in drawn letters he thinks the evidence of the
hand not unpleasant.
173 and 174. modern architect's alphabets, majuscule and
minuscule, with numerals and wording, to show the
adjustment of each letter to letters adjoining. Designed
to be characteristically penwork. Professor A. Beresford
Pite, architect.
175. modern pen letters — By B. Waldram.
176. PEN-WRITTEN ALPHABETS AND NUMERALS. Percy J. Smith.
177. modern pen-drawn roman capitals — By B. Waldram.
178. modern French " roman " type founded upon Serlio.
(Compare 118.)
179. modern pen-written uncials — By B. Waldram.
180. modern pen-written minuscule. L. F. D.
181. MODERN ROMAN MAJUSCULE AND MINUSCULE. Penwork.
Roland W. Paul, architect.
182. modern rather gothic capitals— Penwork. R. K. Cowtan.
183. modern majuscule and minuscule, approaching to running
hand. R. K. Cowtan.
184. modern majuscule and minuscule — R. K. Cowtan.
Descriptive List of Illustrations. xxv
185. modern italic capitals — By Walter West. Much of the
delicacy of Mr. West's beautiful penmanship is unfor-
tunately lost in the process reproduction.
186. modern minuscule alphabet — By Selwyn Image. An
example of his ordinary penmanship, given as an example
of a modern handwriting which may fairly be described
as caligraphy.
187. modern capitals adapted for engraving. L. F. D.
188. modern capitals adapted for execution with single strokes
of the pen. L. F. D.
189. modern French type — Designed by Grasset, and used in
France for book-work. An English version is in use for
advertisements, etc.
190. MODERN VERSION OF EARLY GOTHIC CAPITALS — Adapted for
engraving on metal. L. F. D.
191. modern capitals — Twisted, blunt brushwork. Could easily
be worked in "couched" cord. L. F. D. (Compare
198.)
192. modern variation upon roman capitals — Blunt brush-
work. L. F. D. (Compare 201.)
193. MODERN VERSION OF EARLY SPANISH LETTERS— Adapted for
cutting with a single plough of the graver. L. F. D.
194. modern capitals, shaped with deliberate view to direct and
easy expression with the chisel, the cuneiform character
of the Assyrian inscriptions being taken as a suggestion
that a wedge-shaped incision was about the easiest thing
to cut in stone. (See p. 28.) Alfred Carpenter and
L. F. D.
195. modern capitals, designed for wood-carving, the ornament
typical of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Henri II. periods
being taken as evidence of the ease with which strap-like
forms may be cut with a gouge. L. F. D.
196. modern alphabet — Designed for engraving on silver. The
black stands for the surface of the plate. It is as if this
were a rubbing from the engraving. L. F. D.
xxvi Descriptive List of Illustrations.
197. modern gothic ribband alphabet — Engraved on brass,
the ground cross-hatched. Adapted from Otto Hupp.
198. modern capitals drawn with a continuous line, such as a
silk cord " couched " upon velvet would naturally take,
and suitable, therefore, for that form of embroidery. The
flowing line is here as much dictated by the conditions
as the square and angular forms of the letters following
the mesh of the canvas in 200. This alphabet might
equally well be traced with a full brush, and so executed in
paint or gesso. It was worked by Mary Kidd of S. Mary's
Embroidery School, Wantage.
199. modern capitals embossed on thin sheet-metal, the form
and fashion of the letters suggested by the ease with
which they could be beaten up. L. F. D.
200. embroidered alphabet, founded upon some letters in an
old English sampler — The peculiar angularity of the
forms follows naturally from working on the lines given
by the mesh of the canvas, and is characteristic of a
certain class of very simple needlework. L. F. D.
(Compare with 126 and 202, and with what is said in
reference to 198.)
201. modern capitals and lower cases — Scratched straight off
in moist clay, afterwards baked. The form of the letters
is such as could be most easily incised with a point or
stylus, and is characteristic of the way of working out of
which it comes. L. F. D. (Compare with 198, 191,
192.)
202. modern alphabet in right lines, suggested by the
square form of Chinese writing. L. F. D. (See p. 29.
Compare with 200.)
203. modern alphabet, expressive of the brush, suggested by
brush forms in Japanese writing. L. F. D. (See p. 29.)
204. modern brushwork letters after Mucha.
205. modern stencilled alphabet adapted from E. Grasset
and M. P. Verneuil.
Descriptive List of Illustrations, xxvii
206. modern German minuscule — Fancifully treated. After
Franz Stuck, compiled from various designs by him, in
" Karten urid Vignetten," etc.
207. MODERN ROMAN, MAJUSCULE AND MINUSCULE, Sans Serif
These thin letters, all of one thickness, are sometimes
described as " skeleton."
208. MODERN ROMAN, MAJUSCULE AND MINUSCULE, of French
type, elegantly shaped and spurred. Drawn by J. Viny.
comb.
209. modern roman capitals — A version of the French type
(208). L. F. D.
210. modern roman capitals, not quite of the usual character
and proportion. (Compare 118.) L. F. D.
211. MODERN ROMAN CAPITALS AND NUMERALS — Suggestive
rather of the chisel than of the pen. J. Cromar Watt,
architect.
212. modern roman capitals and lower case — Rather further
removed from orthodoxy than the last. J. W. Weekes.
213. modern " block " capitals — Based chiefly on Roman.
W. J. Pearce. From " Painting and Decorating." C.
Griffin & Co., Ltd.
214. modern roman " block," or sans serif, majuscule and
minuscule, miscalled "Egyptian." J. W. Weekes.
215. modern capitals — Inspired by Gothic. W. J. Pearce.
216. modern German version of Roman capitals. Otto Hupp.
From " Alphabete und Ornamente." Frau Bassermann
Nachfolger, Munich.
217. modern gothic capitals — Meant to be fanciful, but not to
do any great violence to accepted form. An alphabet
in which there is the least approach to design is always
in danger of being considered illegible. Legibility is
for the most part the paramount consideration ; but
there are cases, however rare, in which it is permitted
even to hide the meaning so long as it is there, for those
whom it may concern.
xxviii Descriptive List of Illustrations.
218. MODERN CAPITALS AND NUMERALS — Patten Wilson.
219. modern capitals derived from Gothic, yet playfully treated.
L. F. D.
220. modern capitals — More or less playful variations upon
familiar forms of lettering. L. F. D.
221. modern capitals — Rather Gothic than Roman, which
break out (as was common in old work) into foliation
which forms a sort of background to the letter. L. F. D.
designed for Mr. Matthew Bell.
222. modern capitals and minuscule drawn straight off with
the pen. L. F. D.
223. modern pen drawn letters — Rather fantastically treated
German.
224. roman capitals— By Franz Stuck.
AMPERZANDS.
225. amperzands from various MSS., dating from the 7th to the
15th centuries.
226. amperzands — Free renderings of instances dating from the
16th century to the present day. In the top row may be
traced the connection between the accepted & and the
letters ET, of which it is a contraction.
, Note. — Other examples of amperzands occur in illustrations
134, 136, 137, 138, 141, 142, 155, 167, 171, 176, 178, 189, 208,212,
218, 222.
NUMERALS.
227. german, cut in stone — The peculiar form of 4 is of the
period; the 7's have, so to speak, fallen forward. 1477.
228. various 15th-century dates — Flemish and German
1491 is carved in wood and grounded out. 1439 is cut in
stone, 1499 in brass.
229. fifteenth century — German. Cut in stone.
Descriptive List of Illustrations, xxix
230. dates from 1520-1545 — Chiefly cut in brass or bronze
The figures in relief and grounded out.
231. fifteenth century Numerals, 1520-1531, etc. German.
Cut in bronze or brass.
232. Nuremberg — Bronze. About 1550.
233. German — Bronze. 1560.
234. Italian — Painted on faience. Brushwork.
235. brushwork — 16th or 17th century.
236. Italian — From a chorale. Penwork. (Compare no and 117.)
16th century.
237. gilt figures on a dark ground — Brushwork. 1548?
238. incised in wood — 1588.
239. brass, grounded out — 16th century.
240. painted on glass — 16th century.
241. brushwork — 16th or 17th century.
242. rothenburg — Cut in stone. The 4 suggests the origin of
the 15th-century shape. It is an ordinary 4 turned part
way round. 1634.
243. roman numerals — From a bronze dial. Swiss. Figures
in relief, grounded out. 1647.
244. cut in stone — 1692.
245. various dates — 1633, wood in relief. 1625, wood incised.
The rest on brass (grounded out) or cut in stone. The 1
in 1679 resembles the letter A— a not uncommon occur-
rence in 17th-century German inscriptions.
246. various 18th-century numerals — The complete series
from an English Writing Book (Curtis), 1732. The Dates
incised in stone.
247. dates from monuments — Stone and brass. 18th century,
248. numbers from an old measure — Inlaid in brass wire on
hard brown wood. 1740.
xxx Descriptive List of Illustrations.
249. various dates — 1573, Flemish, engraved on steel. 1747
German, twisted brass wire inlaid in wood.
250. FANCIFUL NUMERALS. L. F. D.
251. MODERN.
252. modern — L. F. D. (Compare with 191, 192, 198.)
253. modern German — Alois Miiller.
254. modern — L. F. D. (Compare with 217.)
Note. — Other numerals occur in illustrations —
142.
A.D. 1665.
143-
A.D. 1697.
155-
MODERN.
Caslon type.
169.
J. W. Weekes.
170.
,
Bailey Scott Murphy
71 and 172.
,
R. Anning Bell.
173-
,
A. Beresford Pite.
176.
,
Percy Smith.
189.
Type.
211.
,
J. Cromar Watt
218.
,
Patten Wilson
ART IN THE ALPHABET.
There are two conditions on which the artist may
be permitted to tamper with the alphabet : what-
ever he does ought, in the first place, to make
reading run smoother, and, in the second, to make
writing satisfactory to the eye. Neither of these
desirable ends should, however, be sought at the
expense of the other.
The way to make reading easier is to mark
whatever is characteristic in the letter ; to develop
what is peculiar to it ; to curtail, or it may be to lop
off, anything which tends to make us confound it
with another ; to emphasize, in short, the individu-
ality of each individual letter, and make it unmis-
takable. At the same time, there is no reason
why reading should not be made pleasant as well
as easy. Beauty, that is to say, is worth bearing
in mind. It must not, of course, interfere with use ;
but there is not the least reason why it should.
Beauty does not imply elaboration or ornament.
On the contrary, simplicity and character, and the
dignity which comes of them, are demanded in
the interests alike of practicality and of art.
B
2 Art in the Alphabet.
It is impossible judiciously to modify the letters
of the alphabet as it is, or as at any given time it
was, without thoroughly understanding how it came
to be so. The form and feature of lettering are
explained only by its descent.
All writing is a sort of shorthand. It is inevitable
that the signs used to represent sounds should be
reduced to their simplest expression. They become
in the end mere signs, as unlike the thing which
may have suggested them in the first instance
as a man's signature, which is yet honoured by
his banker, is unlike his name : enough if writing
convey what we are meant to understand : the
business of a letter is to symbolize a definite sound.
We arrive, then, by a process of what has been
termed " degradation " of such natural forms as
were first employed in picture-writing (call it rather
adaptation), at an alphabet of seemingly arbitrary
signs, the alphabet as we know it after a couple of
thousand years and more. So well do we know it
that we seldom think to ask ourselves what the
letters mean, or how they came to be.
The explanation of these forms lies in their
evolution.
Our alphabet is that of the Romans. We speak
of it to this day as Roman, to distinguish it from
Gothic or black letter. The Romans had it from
the Greeks, or, if not immediately from them,
from the same sources whence they drew theirs.
Certainly the Greek, Etruscan, and old Roman
Art in the Alphabet. 3
alphabets were all very much alike. They resem-
bled one another in the number of letters they
contained, in the sound-value of those letters, and
in the form they took. There were sixteen letters
common to Greeks and Etruscans : ABrAEIKAM
N0I1P2TT ; and this number sufficed always for
'MfcBBrA££6G2Z.
ItWlKtyMUMNO
onfffTyy^fw
I. GREEK MS. QTH CENTURY.
the Etruscans, the race dying out before ever it
had need of more. The Greeks had no longer
(as the Egyptians had) any signs to represent
syllables, that is to say combinations of vowels
and consonants. They added to the alphabet,
which they borrowed, with modifications, from the
Phoenicians, extra letters to express words of
their own. The Greek T^X^Xi do not occur in
Art in the Alphabet.
cpccrrrex^o*
■V An
anovpcpe
xpcepoeic
epoc/
2. COPTIC MS. 5TH TO IOTH CENTURY.
the Phoenician alphabet. The Phoenicians had
probably adopted from the Egyptians signs to
express foreign sounds new to their own language,
without knowing or caring anything about the
pictorial origin of such signs. There was thus no
reason why they should not modify what they
regarded as arbitrary expressions of sound-values,
and every reason why they should reduce them to
the very simplest and most conveniently written
shape: — which they did ; and so it comes about that
we to-day are in all probability directly indebted to
ancient Egypt for at least a portion of our alphabet,
far removed as it may be from the hieroglyphics
of the Pharaohs. That, however, is by the way,
Art in the Alphabet. 5
and, besides, a long way off. For present purposes
we need not go further back than to ancient
Greece.
The Romans dropped all compound conso-
nants, using at first the two consonants which
most nearly expressed the sound equivalent to
that of the Greek double letter ; for example, PH
in place of 4>. But they proceeded also to devise
single letters for sounds which until then had
been expressed by two ; F, for example, instead
of PH.
A Greek alphabet of the year 394 B.C. is given
in illustration 54, and a 16th-century version in 55
KnrC".<|>MULf IT" M
C.CUOVTC-.NNM
3. COPTIC MS. I2TH CENTURY.
II
I
^1
MTBTUETUEH
*4^
NWBSHno&y
4. COPTIC MS. 14TH CENTURY.
Art in the Alphabet. 7
The more cursive form employed by the gth-
century scribe is shown in the manuscript letters
(1) on page 3, whilst the more careful and elaborate
writing proper to gold letters is illustrated by a
page of 11th-century work (5) from a MS. in the
Laurentian Library at Florence.
It is interesting to compare with these the
Coptic writing (2, 3, 4), which is obviously only a
variant upon the Greek ; for the Christianized
Egyptians, when they accepted Christianity,
adopted the Greek alphabet, just as the Turks took
the Arabic character at the time they accepted
the Koran ; and when, in the 6th century, the new
faith was firmly established at Alexandria, Coptic
writing supplanted the old Egyptian. So it
happens that the Coptic alphabet is Greek, except
for seven extra signs, taken from the ancient
demotic alphabet, to express Egyptian sounds for
which the Greeks had no equivalent.
The early Roman or Latin alphabet differed
very little from the Greek. The latest comers in
it were G H K Q X Y Z.
In its adaptation to the Latin language, Greek
gamma or G becomes C. G is, in fact, almost
equivalent to hard C. To the not too subtle ear
the two sounds are like enough to pass one for the
other, just as soft C may be made to do duty for S.
When G came to be used as a separate letter,
distinct from C, then C in its turn was used for K,
though K did not go quite out of use.
Art in the Alphabet.
:X$rAGTOGHnr6N01AT6Yee6YA6l6lG
.oiKDceriffiNwenenoie vw$ H
tom4onay6icTwnw WNMf fe;
efirACMN wroM»NMopl
m(jbciw#AOTNMraNKxra).
FH^ldAOinWNMefCJHeKMCei^
5. GREEK MS. IITH CENTURY.
Art in the Alphabet. g
The letter J did not exist either in the Greek or
in the ancient Roman alphabet. It is equivalent
to II. Place one I over the other and you get a
long I Eventually the initial developed a tail,
and became J. Towards the 15th century the
initial I was pretty generally written J.
The Greek T (upsilon) becomes the Roman Y.
The letters U and V were long considered as
interchangeable ; one or other of them might be
used, or both at once in the same word in the same
sense. It was not until the 10th century that the
custom arose of using V before a vowel, and else-
where using U.
Though 12 (omega) stood for long O, the Latin
letter, which was derived in form from it, bore the
value of W. And, as may be seen in the 9th-
century alphabet on page 3, omega was sometimes
written precisely like a W.
The alphabet, as we know it, owes something
also to Scandinavia. The Runic writing, as the
script of the Scandinavian and other Northern
European priesthood was called, dates back to
legendary days. It was the invention, they say,
of Odin himself. If so, Odin, to judge by internal
evidence, must have derived it from some earlier
Greek or Roman source. What we know is, that
it was in use from the time of the first intercourse
between Scandinavians and Romans. The Chris-
tian Church forbade its use, and with the triumph
io Art in the Alphabet
abcdeFchiIm
nopqkstvjt
6. ROMAN MS. 4TH CENTURY.
of Christianity it passed out of currency ; but it
lived long enough to affect in some degree our
Anglo-Saxon writing.
It will be well now to mark the more decided
steps in the progress of the alphabet. The type
we use takes, as every one knows, two forms — a
larger and a smaller, a major and a minor, or, as
printers put it, " capitals" and ''lower case," or
the small letters which, being most continually in
request, it is convenient to keep near at hand, in
the lower part of the case, from which the com-
positor, so to speak, feeds himself. Our written
character takes the form of a " running " hand,
and is known by that name, or by the more
high-sounding title of " cursive."
^Bc^efcjbA0^
NOpqRSTUtUXZ
7 MS. 7TH CENTURY.
Art in the Alphabet. n
ABcdepc;biKLo}
N Op qRSTUVy
8. ROMAN UNCIALS. 8TH CENTURY.
Now, the printer's "lower case," or " minuscule,"
as it is also called, is practically the book form of
running hand, except that the letters are quite
separate, not conjoined as they are in what pre-
tends to be only the hand of the ready writer, and
does not claim to be beautiful at all.
The earlier form, whether of Greek or Roman
letter, was the capital, the square shape, with
relatively few curved lines, which could con-
veniently be cut in stone or engraved on metal.
This is, in fact, the monumental style — adapted to,
and, what is more, inspired by, the chisel or the
ABCDlfGHlUA
NOPQJLSIVT
9. ROMAN "RUSTIC" WRITING. 5TH CENTURY.
12 Art in the Alphabet.
abcdiFghiLm
NOPQRSTVy
IO. ROMAN MS. CAPITALS. 6TH CENTURY.
graver. You have only to look at it (54, 56, 57) to
see how precisely fit it is for its purpose. There is
no mistake about it, it is incision.
Manuscript writers adopted for book writing a
different character, or rather they adapted the
square capital letter to more ready execution with
the pen, and so evolved a rounder kind of letter
which is known by the name of uncial — not that it
was invariably inch-long, as the term is supposed
to imply.
The uncial form of writing is intermediate, you
will see (8), between the monumental writing and
the " current " hand of the ready writer. It is, if
not the step between the two, a compromise
between them — no matter which ; what it concerns
us to know is that calligraphy took that direction,
which goes to explain many a later form of letter
widely differing from the original square type. The
relationship between these uncial letters and the
cursive Greek (1) is obvious.
The uncial character does not so much affect the
modern printer ; but it is the form of letter from
Art in the Alphabet. 13
aaacdefiLm
fPRSTV
II. MS. CAPITALS. 6TH CENTURY.
which the artist who prefers his own handiwork to
that of the printing press has perhaps most to learn.
A squarer form of capital employed by the
Romans in manuscripts of the 5th and two follow-
ing centuries, is known by the name of " rustic " ;
not that there was anything rustic about these
capitals in our sense of the word ; but the Latin
word was used in the sense of free and easy, sans
gene. The character of the writing is not so formal
as was supposed to befit the town. It is a kind of
country cousin ; it stands, let us say, for the Roman
capital in a loose coat and a soft hat. The charac-
teristic points about it (9) are that the vertical
strokes are all very thin, and the cross-strokes
broad. These cross-strokes take the form of a kind
of tick, tapering at the ends ; and similar ticks are
used to emphasize the finishing of the thin strokes.
That all of this is pen-work is self-evident. But,
as before said, the more usual form of penmanship
at that time was the uncial letter.
14 Art in the Alphabet.
ABCDEFGHIK
LNOPR5TYX
12. BYZANTINE CAPITALS. 7TH CENTURY.
Even when the Roman manuscript writers used,
as they sometimes did, the square capital form,
they did not confine themselves (n) to the
severely simple shapes which came naturally to
the lapidaries. The unequal strength of the lines,
the thickening of the strokes at the ends, and the
sparred or forked shapes they take, all speak of
the pen ; not the steel pen, of course, nor yet the
more supple quill, but the reed pen — rather blunter
than a quill, but pliant enough, and not given to
spluttering. Moreover, it did not tempt the writer
to indulge in unduly thin upstrokes.
Capitals, Greek and Roman alike, represent,
roughly speaking, the first accepted shapes, en-
graver's or carver's work. Uncials stand for MS.
writing, scribe's work, growing by degrees rounder
and more current. The smaller minuscule was
evolved out of the running hand of the mercantile,
as distinguished from the literary, scribe. It was
not used by the ancient Romans, and it was not
until towards the 8th century that running hand
was thus reduced to order. The greater part of
what is called cursive writing scarcely concerns
Art in the Alphabet. 15
/\BCD8F6MN
OPCLRSTVX
13. INSCRIPTION CUT IN STONE. A.D. I085.
the calligrapher ; it might equally be called dis-
cursive, so apt is it to run wild, in which case it
tells less of the progress of writing than of the
caprice or carelessness of the individual writer.
That was not the case with the various cere-
monial versions of running hand employed by the
writers of Papal Bulls and Royal Charters. Such
" diplomatic " hands, as they are styled (because
diplomas were written in them), and the so-called
"Chancery" hands, are highly elaborate, and in
a sense ornamental, but they are so unlike our
writing as to be, practically speaking, illegible.
They are very suggestive for all that. A specimen
of English Court hand is given in Alphabet 157.
With the decline of the Roman empire came
naturally the demoralization of the Roman
character, capital or uncial ; and just in propor-
tion as Rome ceased to be the one centre of the
world, and other nations rose into importance, so
their writing began to show signs of nationality.
At the loss of some refinement, we get thenceforth
i6
Art in the Alphabet.
variety of character. By the beginning of the
8th century distinctly national styles of lettering
were evolved.
To subdivide these styles so minutely as the
learned do, is rather to bewilder the poor student
by their multitude. The important European races
were the Latins, the Franks, the Teutons, and
Anglo-Saxons, and the Visigoths; and from them
we get respectively the Lombard, the Frankish,
OTCJTITOIOT
OF
£€ «
tf t
14. FRANCO-GALLIC MSS. HEADLINES. 7TH CENTURY.
the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon, and the Visigothic
types of writing, all of which eventually merge
themselves in what we call Gothic, in which,
nevertheless, we still find traits of nationality,
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, as the
case may be.
First as to the Lombardic character, which pre-
vailed in Italy from the 8th to the nth century.
It was not, as its name might be taken to imply,
the invention of the Lombards. They were just
long-bearded conquerors, and invented nothing.
The character was not even confined to Northern
Art in the Alphabet. 17
Italy ; only it happened first to be developed there,
and so all later Latin writing (after the Empire)
came to be called " Lombardic."
It has already been explained how uncial writing
was transitional between square "caps" and
rounder pen-forms. The Lombardic shows a
further stage of transition. The penman had not
quite made up his mind between straight lines
and curved ; he hesitated between the square-
lined M and N and the rounded forms (19, 20, 68).
Eventually he decided in favour of the bulging
shapes, which in their later development we dis-
tinguish by the name of Lombardic capitals (74).
There is a broken-backed version of the Lombard
minuscule, "Lombard brisee" the French call it,
which, though not intrinsically beautiful, is inte-
resting as foreshadowing the later form of Gothic
" lower case " which we call " black letter."
Our own "lower case" we get more or less
directly from Charlemagne. He found, perhaps
his friend the Pope told him, that writing had
degenerated by the time he came to the throne
(a.d. 800) to a state unworthy of a mighty emperor.
Accordingly he ordained its reformation. He went
so far as to compel bishops and other important
personages who could not write decently to employ
scribes who could. In this way he revived the
small Roman character, which we eventually
adopted for our printed type.
The scribes of Charlemagne (and for some time
c
1 8 Art in the Alphabet.
after him) did not yet manage to fashion very
satisfactory capitals. They still mixed up letters
all of one thickness with others in which thick and
thin strokes, or diminishing strokes, were used in a
most illogical and awkward way (64) — indicative, of
course, of a period of change. But they did arrive
at a satisfactory and very characteristic rendering
TT ^
HE Mi
HEBTOKE
bM.
/
tremksIhqj/a
GXPRIWTVrImsS
15. VISIGOTHIC MS. IOTH CENTURY.
of minuscule lettering. A conspicuous feature in
it was the elongation of the longer limb of the
1 p g q f d — tails y that is to say, came into fashion,
and long ones, as much as four or five times the
length of the body of the letter. The letter s took
also the long form, f. The letter t, on the other
hand, does not rise much above the line, sometimes
not at all.
Art in the Alphabet.
19
^
mw
l6. SAXON ILLUMINATION (CAROLINE). gTH CENTURY.
That elongation of up-and-down strokes is
characteristic of Frankish and Visigothic lettering
generally. It occurs even in the case of capitals, as
in the headlines of the 10th-century MS. on p. 18.
There the I, the H, and the L rise high above the
heads of their fellows, whilst, on the other hand,
the V-shaped U in the word OPVSCVLVM is
reduced to more than modest proportions.
There appears to be in Visigothic lettering, of
which that is a good example, usually a trace
of Moorish influence, betraying itself in the liberties
taken with the proportion of the characters ; the
Moors had by that time overrun Spain.
hlLHrHUTIklNOS
OPqRSXSTUUX
17. ANGLO-SAXON.
20 Art in the Alphabet.
>v<>opq SJ5r-cU
l8. ANGLO-SAXON MS. 9TH CENTURY.
There is something very whimsical about the
character of Anglo-Saxon capitals ; at times
mechanically square in form, at others excep-
tionally flowing and even frisky (16, 17, 62, 63).
Anglo-Saxon lettering was affected by lingering
traces of an obsolete alphabet derived perhaps at
some remote period from the Gauls, which, to
judge by internal evidence, must have been some-
thing like the Greek. In the minuscule character
(18) there is a curious twist in the long stroke of
the b and 1.
By the 13th century the Gothic style had formed
itself. In the next hundred years or more it was
perfected. At the end of the 15th century it was
ACDCTLMNnOPa
QRSTUV
Xg. FLORENTINE, INCISED AND INLAID. I2TH CENTURY.
Art in the Alphabet, 21
still flourishing — flourishing was the word literally
— in the 16th letters were sometimes nearly all
flourish : it takes an expert to read them.
The Gothic variations upon the Roman capital
form are characteristic : the thick strokes are not
even-sided, but expanded at the two ends or
narrowed towards the centre ; the curved strokes
do not swell so gradually as before, but bulge
INNDOPRSy
20. ITALIAN MS. EARLY I3TH CENTURY.
more or less suddenly ; the tails of sundry letters
break insubordinate from the ranks; and the ex-
tremities are often foliated or otherwise orna-
mented (66, 69, 71). Markedly characteristic of
Gothic of the 13th and 14th centuries are also
the " closed " letters, of which examples occur in
Alphabets 76, jj, 78, 80, etc.
What are called Lombardic capitals were used,
not only as initials, but for inscriptions throughout.
In fact, it was not until the 15th century that
22 Art in the Alphabet
inscriptions were commonly written in minuscule
letters. In many cases these Lombard capitals
were not written with a pen, but with a brush, from
which results something of their character. The
brush lines were fatter than pen strokes.
Gothic characteristics, however, only gradually
21. FREE RENDERING OF LOMBARD MSS. ABOUT 1250.
asserted themselves, and individual scribes clung
tenaciously to the older forms. The alphabet
opposite, for example, though of the 15th century,
only mildly represents the period to which by date
it belongs.
Gothic letters lend themselves to more variety
in design than Roman, not being so perfect in
themselves. To some, perhaps, they are more
Art in the Alphabet. 23
interesting on that very account : perfection palls
upon us. Anyway, the Gothic forms are often
very beautiful. The Roman letter is classic, and
therefore fixed — or, should it rather be said, it is
fixed, and therefore classic ?
With regard to the Gothic minuscule character
(23, 24, 25), the even perpendicularity of the broad,
straight strokes gives at a glance the character
distinguished as " black letter," because it is rela-
ABCDeFQHHLM
NOPQRSTVXZ
22. CAPITALS. I5TH CENTURY.
tively much heavier than the Roman minuscule.
You have only to compare the two to see that
the " black letter " is blacker.
The Germans marked this form of lettering for
their own, and persevered in its use long after the
rest of the world, in pursuance of the fashion of
classicism prevailing in the 16th century, had
abandoned it for the Roman style of lettering.
The mediaeval German version of black letter
was stronger than that of other countries, the
French more fanciful, the Italian more refined,
more perfect, but perhaps never so Gothic.
The old " black letter " varied, as will be seen,
24 Art in the Alphabet.
tt6cJ>cfgDt
ftmnopqn
23. GERMAN GOTHIC MINUSCULE.
very much in character. The rounder form (23)
is freer, easier to write, more cursive. The more
regular and straight-backed letter (24, 25) went
rather out of fashion for a while ; but it was
revived by the printers, who saw in it what they
could best imitate.
The type we use nowadays has shaped itself in a
more or less accidental way. In the first place, it
was a copy of manuscript forms. That was in-
evitable. Possibly printers were anxious to palm
off their printed books as manuscripts. But, apart
from any such intent on their part, their text was
bound to follow the written page, or no one would
have been able to read it. And as, at the time of
Art in the Alphabet. 25
2*tttntrg?
24. GERMAN GOTHIC MINUSCULE.
the introduction of printing, two styles of writing
were in use for manuscripts, there arose naturally
two styles of printed type — " Roman " and " black
letter." In printing, as in manuscript, however,
black letter gave way to the Roman character,
but not all at once ; there was a period of tran-
sition during which some very interesting and
characteristic types were used. We in our day
have arrived, by a process of copying the copies of
copies of copies, from which all the virtue of vitality
and freshness has died out, at a 20th century type
(look at the newspapers), which compares most
unfavourably with the early printing. The modern
form of letter is in a measure fixed for us by
26 Art in the Alphabet,
abr&rfjiji
fstufinifij
25. GOTHIC MINUSCULE.
circumstances ; we cannot conveniently depart far
from it ; but something may be done. There is
no need to revive mediaeval lettering, no occasion
to invent new lettering all out of our own heads, if
that were possible ; any new departure of ours
must be very much on old lines ; but at least we
might found ourselves upon the best that has been
done, and go straight to that for inspiration.
Type, as before said, was based on manuscript
forms. These manuscript forms had been shaped
with a view always to easy writing. What was
difficult to pen dropped out of use, and lettering
became what the scribe made it. The considera-
tions, however, which guided the writer no longer
concern the printer. It is time, perhaps, he took
stock of the alphabet — looked over it with a view
Art in the Alphabet. 27
to its perfection, since one shape is about as easy
to print as another. The changes which have
taken place in our printed type during the last
three hundred years or so may very likely have
been on the whole in the direction of easy reading,
but they have not been in the direction of beauty ;
and it is quite likely that it may be worth while
restoring some obsolete forms of letter now that we
have not to write them. There is inconvenience
in departing in any appreciable degree from the
accepted form of letter ; but we have arrived to-day
at a period when everyone is so familiar with the
printed page that, prejudiced as we may be against
any modification of it, there is no danger of our
finding any real difficulty in reading an improved
type. Lettering is none the more legible because
it is ugly : beauty is compatible with the very
sternest use.
The earliest writing was most probably scratched
with a point upon whatever came handiest to the
scribe — skins, palm leaves, or the bark of trees, and
especially upon clay, a material which had only to
be burnt to become more lasting than stone.
If, in scratching upon firm clay, the writer begins
his stroke with a dig and then drags out the tool,
it results in a wedge-shaped scratch. That seems
to be the way the cuneiform character came about ;
but the lettering upon the early Babylonian
" bricks," as they are called, is so precisely defined
that it must have been done with a sharp graver-
28 Art in the Alphabet.
like point. These ''wedge-shaped" or "arrow-
headed " characters came to be copied, as we know,
in stone, in which again they were about the sim-
plest thing to cut. Three, or at most four, direct
cuts give the Ninevite character, as we know it in
the famous bas-reliefs. It is descended from clay
forms, but its own mother was the stone out of which
it was cut. The chisel was its father. Even in
inscriptions as late as the 18th century or there-
abouts, the stone-cutter lapses, as may be seen
opposite, into more or less wedge-shaped incisions ;
the chisel tempted him, and he yielded to its
persuasion.
From the cuneiform character to simple Greek
(54) or Roman (56) capitals, as square as well
could be, is not far ; and the clear-cut inscriptions
on classic monuments are still typically chisel
work. Very early Greek inscriptions are, however,
not much more than scratched in the granite or
whatever it may be. The small Greek character
on the famed Rosetta stone is mere scratching.
Writing done with a stylus on tablets of wax was
naturally blunt. Penwork at first was also much
blunter than modern writing — owing partly, no
doubt, to the use of the reed pen, partly to the
texture of papyrus, and partly to the consistency of
the ink. The strokes of early lettering in Egyptian,
Greek, and Latin manuscripts alike, are rather thick,
and rounded at the angles, not sharply turned.
It was a reed pen with which the Arabs wrote,
Art in the Alphabet. 29
holding it more or less horizontally so as to retain
the ink, and sloping the paper or papyrus at a
convenient angle; and it was in writing the Roman
letters with a reed pen that the mediaeval scribes
gave it its Gothic character. It was not until the
quill (which held the ink better) came into use that
the Italians developed their minuscule letter with
its thick and thin strokes.
A glance is Lometimes enough to tell whether an
early Egyptian manuscript was written with a pen
AdBCDEFGGMI
KLMNOPPQQR
26. FROM INSCRIPTIONS CUT IN STONE. ABOUT 170O.
or with a brush. The Arab penmen, who took
great pride in their art, wrote with a wonderfully
elastic pen, and got out of the reed forms which
remind one at times of brushwork ; but the neskhi
character is as obviously the pen form of writing
as the squarer cufic is the monumental. So also we
find among the Chinese and Japanese one form of
lettering which is characteristically brushwork, and
another almost rectangular, which last is clearly
the monumental manner.
30 Art in the Alphabet.
Even in late Gothic lettering we find a minus-
cule which is of the pen (23), and another (24, 25)
which is monumental, adapted, that is to say, to
precise and characteristic rendering with the graver
upon sheets of brass. It is curious that out of this
severe form of writing the florid ribbon character
(108) should have been evolved. But when once
the engraver began to consider the broad strokes of
his letters as bands or straps, which, by a cut of
the graver, could be made to turn over at the ends,
as indicated in Alphabet 125, it was inevitable
that a taste for the florid should lead him to
something of the kind. The wielder of the brush
was in all times induced by his implement to make
flourishes (32, 33), in which the carver had much
less temptation to indulge. The sloping or " italic "
letter (27) is, on the face of it, the product of the pen.
We find, then, that the implement employed,
stylus, reed-pen, brush, or whatever it may have
been, goes far to account for the character of
ancient lettering. So soon as the writer ceased
to be satisfied with mere scratching or blunt
indentation, and took to the use of the chisel, he
felt the need of a square cross-cut to end the
stroke of his letter. If that was broad, there was
no occasion for the cut to go beyond the width of
the stroke itself. If it was narrow, the easier
thing to do was to anticipate the danger of over-
shooting the mark, and frankly extend the end
cut. This method of finishing off the broad line
Art in the Alphabet. 31
by a projecting cross-line is technically called
truncation, though literally that only means
cutting off. Slight but appreciable difference
in character results from the angle at which the
strokes are truncated or cut off.
In working with a pen, this difficulty of ending
the stroke occurs only in the case of very bold
lettering. In small writing the strokes naturally
ab c d c f of)
i klmnop a
rfs t uj yz
.27. ROMAN ITALICS.
take pen-shape. They start square and gradually
diminish, or vice versa, or they thicken in the
middle, according to the angle at which the pen
is held, and to the pressure, which it is difficult to
keep quite equal from end to end of the stroke.
It should be observed that the pressure is not
naturally in the middle of the stroke, but at one
end ; the penman does not naturally get the
symmetrical Roman O, but the Gothic 0 (117).
32 Art in the Alphabet.
That is the pen-born shape. The even-sided O
was, if not easier to cut in stone, at least as easy ;
there was nothing to prevent symmetry, which
was accordingly the rule in sculpture. It is rather
futile to aim at that kind of thing with a pen ;
much better let the pen have its way ; and its way
is otherwise (176, 179). We get so much more out
of our tools by going with them, that it is rather
stupid to strive against them.
In very bold writing, even with a pen, the
necessity for truncating the thick strokes occurs.
You cannot easily, with one stroke of the pen,
make a thick line which begins and ends square.
It wants trimming ; and the easiest way to trim
it is by means of a fine cross-stroke extending
beyond its width. This cross-stroke T helps to
preserve and to accentuate the regularity of the
line of lettering, for which a writer worth the name
naturally has a care. The broad stroke being
rather loaded with ink, the fine cross-stroke is
inclined, in crossing it, to drag a little of the ink
with it, rounding one angle of it. The obvious
way of rectifying that is to round the opposite
angle also — and so we have the familiar finish T,
which is equivalent to the "spur" of the chiseller
mentioned just now (208).
The angle at which the cross-line joins the
stroke may be softened until it disappears, and
the stroke appears to be curved on either side —
" dilates," to use another accepted term, at the
Art in the Alphabet.
3i
28. ROMAN MOSAIC. LOUVRE, PARIS.
29. ENGRAVED BRONZE TABLETS. NAPLES MUSEUM.
CDEGMNO
30. ENGRAVED BRONZE TABLETS. NAPLES MUSEUM.
31. STONE. CORDOVA. 1409.
\ I
32. PAINTED ON HISPANO-MORESQUE POTTERY.
15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES.
mm
mm
33- PAINTED ON ITALIAN MAJOLICA. 16TH CENTURY.
36 Art in the Alphabet.
ends. Historically, we arrive at that in Lombardic
and other writing as early as the 8th century (60).
Anticipating this dilation, the penman eventually
made strokes in which the elementary straight line
altogether disappears (68). Further elaborating,
he arrived at the rather sudden swelling of the
curved back of the letter, familiar in work of the
13th century and later (73, 8j). With the forking
of the terminations, and the breaking of the out-
line in various ways (20), we arrive at fantastic
variation to which there is no conceivable end (34,
84, 88, 91, 120). Few instances, therefore, of the
elaborate ornamentation of the lettering are here
given (109, 120, 151, 152). Enough to give
alphabets in which the ornamental design is in
the construction of the letters themselves.
With the use of thick and thin strokes comes a
difficulty. Which shall be thick, and which thin?
The scribes were a long while making up their
minds on that point, and they contrived some very
awkward combinations (64). The solution we have
at last come to is probably the best that could be
found. We need scarcely bother ourselves about
trying to improve upon modern practice in that
respect ; it has been a case of the survival of the
fittest.
Out of the use of thick and thin strokes arises
the necessity for graduated strokes, there being no
other way of treating the curved lines intermediate
between the two. Then, if the thick strokes are
Art in the Alphabet. 37
iimmwif« ■ n m m n j tig
34. ENQRAVED ON BRASS. 1395.
STyGfiZ
tfliUTiA
35. PAINTED ON WOOD. 1727.
<5N(sRCiY
36. PAINTFD ON MAJOLICA. 1518.
38 Art in the Alphabet.
truncated, the thin lines appear to want corre-
sponding accentuation at the ends ; and so the
"serif" runs all through the alphabet (118, 119, etc.)-
The further influence of the writing tool upon
the form of the letter is shown on pages 32, 33, 37,
etc., and in Alphabets to which reference is made
in the descriptive list of illustrations. A number
of these Alphabets have been deliberately designed
with a view to execution in a specific material.
With regard, now, to Numerals. Until the 15th
century, the letters M, D, C, L, X, V, and I were
in general use to express numbers.
The Arabic numerals, as they are called, found
their way into Europe some time during the 12th
century, but did not come into general use before
the 15th, nor indeed much before the introduction
of printing, which diffused the knowledge of them.
Their adoption in England was more tardy than
on the continent, the beginning of the 17th century
being given as the date of their universal acceptance
here. The numerals, as we know them, or even
as they were written in the 15th century, do not
bear any marked resemblance to the genuine
Arabic ; numbers 1 and 9, and the all-important
cypher, o, are the only Eastern figures which seem
to claim direct oriental ancestry.
The figures of the 15th century are not always
at first sight very easily legible ; the 7, for example
(227), presents anything but a familiar appearance,
but upon examination that inverted V proves to be
Art in the Alphabet. 39
Wffll
37. GOLD LETTERS PICKED OUT OF BLACK PAINT. SPANISH.
AEGRS?
38. PAINTED ON WOOD. ITALIAN. 15TH CENTURY
AEIOEQl
R5TVY
39. PAINTED ON GLAZED EARTHENWARE. ENGLISH. 18TH CENTURY.
40 Art in the Alphabet.
really an equal-limbed 7 placed (as it would
naturally fall) so as to rest upon its two ends : it
is not the figure that is changed, but its position.
Much more puzzling is the early form of 4 (227,
228, 229), a loop with crossed ends upon which it
stands. The popular explanation of the figure as
" half an eight," is anything but convincing; and it
appears to have no Eastern prototype. There is a
17th-century version of it, however, in the Francis-
kaner Kirche, at Rothenburg (242), which, had it
been of earlier date, might have been accepted as
a satisfactory explanation. There the loop has a
square end, and the figure rests, not upon its two
loose ends, but partly on its point. Imagine this
figure standing upright, one point facing the left,
and it is seen to be a 4 of quite ordinary shape. This
may not be the genesis of the form ; but, if not, it is
ingeniously imagined by the 17th-century mason.
Writers have from the first made use of contrac-
tions, the ready writer in order to save time and
trouble, the caligrapher, sculptor, and artist
generally, in order to perfect the appearance of
his handiwork, and, in many cases, to make it fit
the space with which he has to deal. The ends of
art are not satisfied by merely compressing the
letters, or reducing them to a scale which will
enable the writer to bring them all into a given
line (208). We, in our disregard of all but what
we call practicality, have abandoned the practice
of contraction, except in the case of diphthongs, and
Art in the Alphabet. 41
40. PAINTED, GERMAN GOTHIC, INITIALS.
41. COPPER RIVETS ON LEATHER. SALSBURG MUSEUM.
42. ENGRAVED IN BRASS. BRUGES.
42 Art in the Alphabet.
in the exceptional instance of the word " et." The
" amperzand," as the printer calls it (225, 226), still
lingers in his founts of type, and is used even more
habitually by the ordinary penman of to-day.
To what does all this investigation of the
alphabet lead ? It is of no use trying to evolve
brand-new alphabets out of our inner conscious-
ness. No one would understand us, and we want
to be read. Originality is what we all desire ; but
it is scarcely the thing to seek consciously, least of
all in lettering ; it comes of its own accord if ever
it comes. We are original or we are not.
While the alphabet is alive there will be changes
in it, but they must inevitably be gradual ; we can
only creep on to new forms. Practically, what we
have to do is to take an alphabet and modify it
according to our wants or inclinations, without, as
a rule, interfering much with its legibility. A man
may, if he knows what he is about, make it more
legible, as well as in other ways bettering it. But
to do that intelligently, he should know something
of the descent of the lettering on which he founds
himself. That is why it has been thought worth
while to discuss the subject at such length here.
An important consideration in the design of an
alphabet — if design be not too pretentious a word
to use in speaking of what can scarcely be much
more than a variation upon orthodox forms — is
that the letters should be systematically treated.
Art in the Alphabet.
43
43. APPLIED LETTERS. SILVER.
* T3-Z'£
44. CARVED IN STONE. FROM BISHOP WEST S CHAPEL, ELY
CATHEDRAL. C.A. 1534.
44 Art in the Alphabet.
They are more likely to be all of one family if we
derive them from one source. But there is no
reason why we should not cross the breed in
lettering, if thereby we can improve the stock.
An alphabet, however, should not look hybrid.
The artist is free to do what he can ; but the test
of success is that his creation should look as if it
must be so, and could not have been otherwise.
Why, it is asked, should any one trouble himself
about hand-drawn lettering, when he has ready to
his use type, which is so much truer and more
perfect ? Truer, perhaps, it may be, in the sense
of being more mathematically exact, but it is not
necessarily so truly uniform in effect ; for the
unyielding letters of the type-founder come
together as best they may, and if they come
awkwardly he can't help it. The writer can, and
indeed he should.
There is no denying that many an artist who
ventures to introduce lettering into his design,
does it ill, does it so carelessly, or is so easily
satisfied with very indifferent penmanship, that
of the two evils hard and fast letterpress would
have been the lesser. None the less true is it that
an artist who has been at the pains to learn to
write, can, if he aim at what pen or brush will do,
and refrain from entering into foolish and ineffectual
rivalry with the printing press, do what that cannot
do, and do better.
Looking at an early printed book, you are
Art in the Alphabet.
45
45. LEAD GLAZING. AFTER WINSTON.
46. CUT LEATHER, FROM A BOOK BINDING. HAMBURG MUSEUM.
47. CARVED IN STONE. ST MARGARET'S CHURCH, KING'S LYNN. 1622.
46 Art in the Alphabet,
astonished, each time afresh, at the beauty of the
page. But if you go from that straight to a fine
manuscript, you realize that, after all, printing,
even such printing as was done by the great
printers, is a makeshift. It is a makeshift we
have to put up with, and we may as well make
the best of it ; merely petulant complaint is
childish ; but when occasion does occur, let us
have the real thing, and don't let us be persuaded by
readers so greedy of print as to have lost all
appetite for beautiful writing, that there is no
flavour or artistic savour in it. It is not good
manuscript, but their spoilt palate, which is at fault.
Having perfected machinery, we are doing our
best to make ourselves into machines. Until that
happens — which God forbid ! — man's hand is still
the best, in art at all events ; and were it not the
best, it would still have the charm of character,
that individual quality for which a public brought
up exclusively on printed type has no relish.
Print, with its mechanical smoothness, and pre-
cision, has gone far to distort the modern ideal of
lettering, just as photography, with its literalness,
has degraded the ideal of art. There are people
who resent as a sort of impertinence anything in
lettering which the printing press cannot do. They
are ready to take offence at whatever is unfamiliar.
Really the impertinence is in a makeshift thing
like type usurping any kind of authority in a
matter quite beyond its scope.
Art in the Alphabet.
47
rOTIS
OECIPI
AGRSffirvlQETpiAS
48. PAINTED ON GLASS. AFTER WINSTON.
1
'JJJt'^lJ J» JIJJ^L1 HTCC*5g*
I,
49. ENGRAVED ON SILVER. FROM A CUP.
50. EMBROIDERED IN GOLD THREAD. JAMES 1ST.
4§
Art in the Alphabet.
API2TQ<pWi
^iAinniAd
L AEHNMQ.
51. CUT IN MARBLE. ON AN ANTIQUE BUST OF ARISTOPHANES
IN THE UFFIZI, FLORENCE.
52. STAINED AND PAINTED GLASS. FROM WINCHESTER
CATHEDRAL. AFTER WINSTON.
Art in the Alphabet.
49
The great difference between old lettering and
new is that in days before type-founding the scribe
was free to play variations on the well-known
alphabetical air, whereas our print is monotonous
as.the tune of a barrel organ.
aroaiw
mm
53. CUT OUT OF GLAZED TILES EMBEDDED IN CEMENT.
CORDOVA.
Pedants are never happy until everything is
fixed. But nothing is fixed until it is dead. Life
is in movement. Philosophy has long since given
up the search for perpetual motion, but that is
the secret of it — life ; and that is the evidence and
sign of life — motion. English will be a dead
language when there is no longer any possibility
of change in the way it is written.
OLD ALPHABETS
ARRANGED IN ORDER OF
THEIR DATE. MANY OF THEM
DIRECTLY DUE TO THE USE
OF CHISEL, PEN, BRUSH, &c.
EZHG
I KA/A
54. GREEK. FROM A STELE AT ATHENS. B.C. 394.
A
u
^
{<-
4 IA — i JA
V7 T7
11
21
ID
1A
11
55. GREEK INITIALS, PRINTED AT BASEL. iGTH CENTURY.
^v
r35^
^f
M^,
^?r
JL^
56. ROMAN. FROM THE FORUM.
^
OPPPP
57. ROMAN.
FRCM SCULPTURES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
A.D. 150 TO 300.
58. ANGLO-SAXON? 6TH CENTURY.
IE
m
3
17
s
F
7~P
m
£LA
59. FROM A CODEX. 7TH OR 8TH CENTURY.
(S=4
PTT7
l\.
60. GALICIAN MS. 8TH CENTURY.
TIEEEtf
UmDD
6l. IRISH MS. FROM THE
BBfibEtl
FtTFTT
UV1XX
BOOK OF KELLS. 8TH CENTURY,
blHLi
:<1 -fl
62. ANGLO-SAXON MSS. 8TH AND 9TH CENTURIES.
a
F
A
\7 .JL
63. ANGLO-SAXON MSS. 8TH AND 9TH CENTURIES.
|.. SAXON AND ANGLO-SAXON MSS.
7TH, 8TH, AND 9TH CENTURIES.
FQfolJK
LMNOP
QRSTO
YWAYS
65. MS. IOTH CENTURY.
66. FRENCH MS. I2TH CENTURY.
D);
lyi'M'MKfl
j— — ... ..™„
67. LE PUY. WOOD. ABOUT I2TH CENTURY,
AABBC
b6F(5k
] 1KLL
PPQAR
5TSUV
wxxyz
I2TH CENTURY MS. GERMAN.
IJRRJKL
69. END OF I2TH CENTURY MSS. ENGLISH.
mmi
SI vx
70. I2TH CENTURY. LISBJERG, DENMARK. GILT LETTERS ON
TRANSPARENT BROWN.
CX>E
71, FROM A BIBLE. 13TH CENTURY,
hHLO>M(DNnO
^i^^ ' i.-.i-.j — t ' trrt — rtSS
72. FROM A GERMAN BELL. 1270.
mbq/dg:
73. FROM A PSALTER, I3TH CENTURY,
MZy
74, MSS. 14TH CENTURY,
ABCDE
IJKLM
MNPOP
QRSTU
VWXY
75. ITALIAN. 14TH CENTURY,
mm
uni
76. INCISED GOTHIC CAPITALS. ABOUT I350.
XBODGEflft
IM/MIOPG.
mmvwx
7J. FROM A BRASS. NORDHAUSEN. 1397.
78. FROM A BRASS. NORDHAUSEN. I395.
79- STONE. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. ABOUT 1400.
^
^
80. FROM A MS.
I
ENGLISH. CA. 1400.
&mxm
8l. INCISED AND FILLED WITH CEMENT. PRATO. 1410.
82. CARVED IN STONE. SPANISH.
^xn
83. 1420 MS
hb at)
X
S~
84. GERMAN MSS. 15TH CENTURY,
85. ENSRAVED ON BRASS. BAMBERG. 1 4 64-
wsm
86. FROM A PICTURE-FRAME IN THE LOUVRE. PAINTED. 1480.
n&ao
S&TUV
87. GERMAN MSS. 1475.
MS. ABOUT 1475.
89. PAINTED INITIALS. CA. 1480.
90. INCISED IN MARBLE. GERMAN. 1482.
91. CARVED IN RELIEF. FRENCH. PROBABLY 15TH CENTURY.
92. INITIALS CUT IN STONE. BRUGES. CA. 1500.
aDfOrf
i
utntum
nnnm
93- FROM A BRASS. END OF 15TH CENTURY.
mam.
94. FROM A BRASS. EXD OF 15TH CENTURY.
fiBCDEfi F
GM IJK]M
NOPR8T
UVWxYZ
abedefghi
ktmaopqr
stuvwxvz
95. FROM MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. END OF THE 15TH CENTURY.
GERMAN.
qyqgBBHgZfc
96. PRINTED INITIALS. END OF 15TH CENTURY.
HBCL6EEF6
GHWKLANn
OPRSTVWZ
97. FROM A BRASS. MEISSEN, 1500.
ABCDEF
GHILM
NOPQR
STVX
98. FROM BRONZE BY PETER VISCHER. 1495.
A.BCDE
FCHIKL
MNOP
QRST
VXYZ
99. INCISED. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. S. CROCE, FLORENCE.
IOO. FROM A MANUSCRIPT
THE 16TH CENTURY.
<?_*_*,. !*£
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(D (O) q)
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cy^^d)
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IOI. ITALIAN. FROM A CHORALE AT
^^^.rrr^r^ g^ro^^gpo™^ q
(^HST7™^)
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p
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MONTE CASINO. l6TH CENTURY.
OCX
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I02. GOTHIC. 16TH CENTURY.
KbC&E
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UMNO
PQRST
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103. PAINTED. FLEMISH. EARLY 16TH CENTURY,
104. ALBRECHT DORER. EARLY l6TH CENTURY.
m n o pa
IB 1 1^
105. albrecHt dQrer. early i6th century.
30&CjD
ft f 6 Ik
lh0p£l
I06. ITALIAN MSS. 15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES.
107. ITALIAN. VICENTINO. 1 523.
Io8. ITALIAN. LUDOVICO
VICENTINO. 1523.
109. ITALIAN. LUDOVICO
VICENTINO. 1523.
IIO. AFTER LUDOVICO CURIONE. l6TH CENTURY. QY. 1530.
Hoao
aeon
QOOQ
III. SPANISH. JUAN YCIAR. FIRST HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY.
I
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZ
112. INCISED. FLORENTINE. 15TH CENTURY.
DDEF
o
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II3. ENGRAVED BY HEINRICH ALDEGREVER. CA. 1530.
114- INCISED IN WOOD, NORTH WALSHAM.
D
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115. QUASI-
cJAo eJAo
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qMd
ELIZABETHAN ALPHABET.
Il6. ITALIAN. PALATINO. 1546.
abcdt>
efgbik
Imnop
qnfs
tuxy?
117. VESFASIANO. T556.
ABC
GHI
NOP
TVW
Il8. ITALIAN. SERLIO.
DEF
KLM
i6th century.
<5\> <©Vb <5a9 Cs^^D&J
HOPFER. 1549.
120. ITALIAN.
G. F. CRESCI. 1570.
H8QO
nopo,
UXT5
121. ITALIAN. G. F. CRESCI. 1570.
Aabc
defgh
llmno
pqrst
uxyz
122. ITALIAN. G. F. CRESCI. 1570.
xg&%
123. AFTER G. F. CRESCI. 1570.
ftrmnoptir
JsfuVwm
124. INCISED. FLEMISH. 1579.
125. INCISED. STONE. FLEMISH. 16TH CENTURY.
126. FROM THE LACE-BCOK OF GIOVANNI OSTAVS. T590.
ABODE
FGHJKL
127. STONE. BINGEN. 1576, 1598, i6l
afChi
128. BRASS. BAMBERG. 1613.
abccdc
f g"h i] i m
imrmop
pqrrfst
sfuvx
129. SLATE. WtfRZBURG. 1617.
ABCD
EFGH
IKLM
NOPQ
RSTU
WXYZ
130. PENMANSHIP. 17TH CENTURY.
aocae
hikl
mno
tuxy
13T. PENMANSHIP. 17TH CENTURY,
rs
ABQD
KQ£Q
wxrz
132. ITALICS. 17TH CENTURY.
[33. CARVED IN WOOD. 1638.
TW2Cff?&
134. PENMANSHIP. E. COCKER. 1660.
crb lAlmjtop a
135. PENMANSHIP, E. COCKER. 1660.
136. PENMANSHIP. LESGRET. 1736.
■M $>. e&£&g
t_
9
qa^crcpcyow OQ
CP"
ec every dan- produce jomc curioiu Sines ^>
tat may commend tnu (jtiiiiu,<$cLn i/Jen,
all trurrndertaJiingj andQjejignts
dto Cjod}(nloru,andtheaood o.
d of -nun.
<zA a be defjfa L o LJl / Li mn oPJb
q rjj^tttslviiwxjuZoScD
137. PENMANSHIP. COCKER.
dL@. C.CM<F.ff.&
a ^cdefa kiJiLllm n
op a rzjjtttvuwxjrz><$c
138. PENMANSHIP. COCKER. 1673.
^Wj^t
139. PENMANSHIP. COCKER. 1673.
cl i) c d d cj~ a h 1
j ImnoyzarJ'
140. PENMANSHIP. MAINGUENEAU. FRENCH.
CCDStfsfr&P
edoreL-^
a
T4T. PENMANSHIP. PARIS. 1736.
<M£(?M$Q$C
J2C <%?. aficc/et
i/KiTunoparsf-uw
XU£>
xy.
J&2?m;66S.
142. STONE. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. l(
ABCDEFG
hfijKLMNM
NOPQQRFL
STVWXYZ
abcaeighukfttm
oparstvk>xy:
f\moV<mj6c)j
143. INCISED. CHIPPENHAM. 1 697.
aoc
144. PENMANSHIP. SHELLEY. 1705.
aoa
o/?^//?#ii
u/vxyyz.
[45. PENMANSHIP. C. SNELL. 1715.
ulinnop
a
a be
cf -
ciaiuimnovorsLUXfZ
o
kzDiirllmnooEp
rzftstluvdGxzi
46. PENMANSHIP. ANDRADK. 1721.
Jul $>;!€€
hJtCJj Life
i.w*7 ll«
abGbdc^gi>iJ5)
Imiioppqnftim
1^7. PENMANSHIP. ANDRADE. 1721.
148. PAINTED. GERMAN. I727.
A
dJ qJ
T
%
LHNOP0V,
149. PENWORK. GERMAN. J. H. TIEMROTH. 1738-48.
kunn
srwvx
150. STONE. OSNABRUCK. 1742-56.
151. FRENXH. E. GUICHARD. PERIOD OF LOUIS XV.
^2. FRENCH. LAURENT.
PERIOD OF LOUIS XV.
nkt>rfgfji
ffmwnr
CnffTitffffisT
153. ETCHED ON LITHOGRAPHIC STONE. NUREMBERG.
1765-70.
QbCDe
eFQ9hI
junnop
arrstf
\JVVXl
154. SLATE. WORZBURG. 1784.
ABCDEFG
HIJKLMN
OPQRSTU
VWXYZ
67890
155. PRINTED " CASLON " TYPE,
abcdefghijkl
mnopqrstuv
wxyz A BCD
EFGHIJKL
M NOPALS
TUVWXTZ
mn
opqrstuvwxyz
156. PRINTED "CASLON" TYPE.
x y . *
157. ENGLISH COURTHAND. FROM A. WRIGHT'S " COURTHAND
RESTORED." 1815.
3 -I 3~ft
B|^l . |cb«J Z.JJL. Pixy I
pcuidt JBhW final- Phy I JSKf
158. HEBREW ALPHABET.
M
• •
• • • •
v-t.V ♦
V V T* W
■4 ;v * K
# •
159. HEBREW ALPHABET. FROM SILVESTRE'S PALEGRAPHIE.
MODERN ALPHABETS
SHOWING THE CHARACTER WHICH
COMES OF USING PEN, CHISEL, OR
WHATEVER IT MAY BE
HBC
ertii
nop
StIY
160. PENWORK.
D6F
Kliffi
XYZ
WALTER CRANE. J
KhMNQ
OTXY2
[6l. PENWORK.
abed e
PghijR
Imnop
arstuv
WALTER CRANE.
l62. PENWOKK.
DTTO HUPP
mffoA
6
)il SIS
m n©
i HI
163. PENWORK. OTTO, HUPP.
KRfl ATI
BCEDEE
STSTZTT
VSZXYZ
164. PEN WORK. OTTO HUPP.
abcDe
fghm
imthop
qmtuv
165. PEN WRITTEN. L.F.D.
eFQRJJ
K.LK01T1
OPQRE>
STSUVW
166. PEN WRITTEN. L.F.D.
ABCDEF
GHIJKL
R S TU V
WXYZ&
abcdefghij
klmmopqr
stuvwxvz
167. "OLD STYLE" ITALICS. J. VINVCOMB. PEN.
l68. ITALICS. L.F.D.
ABCDEFG
HOKLMMN
STVWXYZ
abcdefthijklmn
opqrstuvwxyz,.
12,34567390.
169. J. W. WEEKES.
ABCDEPG
HIJKLMN
OPQRSTV
WXYZ
12345
075QO
170. PENWORK. BAILEY SCOTT MURPHY, ARCHITECT.
ABCDE
FGHIKL
MNOPQ
RSTVW
XYZZ,
1905
171. PENWORK. R. ANNING BELL.
ABCD EFGH
-H^IL
UV ¥X Y
EM ■ ED'
172. PENWORK. R. ANNING BELL.
cxbccdefjf
m
)23])e[igalelteD
45 itfouioite.
678QO
173. PENWORK. PROF. A. B. PITE, ARCHITECT.
174- PENWORK. PROF. A. B. PITE, ARCHITECT.
aBeoe
FGHIJK.
JLTDt) O P
Ycayzyz
abcdepghijklmn
opqrstuvujxyz
175. PEN WRITTEN. B. WALDRAM.
ABCDEFG
H1JKLMN
OPQRSTU
VWXYZ&
abcdefghtj k
Imnopqrstu
vwxqzcr
1234567890
176. PEN WRITTEN. PERCY J. SMITH.
Abcdef
GHIJKLM
NOPQRST
UVWXYZ
177. PEN-DRAWN "ROMAN" CAPITALS. B. WALDRAM.
ABCDEFG
HIJKLMN
OPQRSTU
VWXYZ&
178. PRINTED "ROMAN" TYPE. MODERN FRENCH.
>BC66£F
QblJkXQD
ROppgST
uvoipcyz
179. PEN- WRITTEN UNCIALS. B. WALDRAM.
abcdcPqJ)ij
180. PEN WRITTEN. L.F.D.
ABCDEFGH1
JKLMNOPQR
STUVWXYZ
abcdefjgMjM
mnopqr^Tuv
wxyp.
l8l. PENWORK. ROLAND W. PAUL, ARCHITECT.
182. PENWORK. R. K. COWTAN.
g<H<7)f3(hM
m^^jx yz
183. PEN WORK. R. K. COWTAN.
Q)
184. PEN WORK. R. K. COWTAN.
XL WW
OPQJ&
sfvvw
185. PEN WRITTEN. WALTER WEST.
abcdefghljkLmn
ojDgrstu^coDcyz
OJ Count the first question is thai: oj matsri:
af-j and care must be taken to choose or de:
sign an alphabet 9 not only practicable in ,
Bur suitable to , the medium in which it is
to be ixeeuted . One of the -commonest zrrors
is thai* of takina a style of kttirino txcett:
ent when written en parchment or paper* , with
a audi pen 9 and caroiny if 9 {eh us say for
example , on wood . Oj course the result is
often 9 atthouyh by no means necessarily so,
incongruous in the tseheme . Many lefftr -
forms are 9 indeed , interchangeable in this
way : but if it is desired to adapt the fctitr.
in a of one class of object to the purposes of
186. CURSIVE WRITING. SELWYN IMAGE.
sxvvwxyz
187. DESIGNED FOR ENGRAVING ON METAL ; BUT NOT
UNSUITED TO PENWORK. L.F.D.
(ABcbergnij
KLD2I20PHR
srcwwxyz
l88. PEN WRITTEN. L.F.D,
ABCDEFG
HIJKLMN
OPQRSTU
VWXYZ &
abcdefghijkl
mnopqrstuv
wxyz
1234567890
189. FRENCH PRINTED TYPE. DESIGNED BY GRASSET (?).
KLmDOfQH
190. ENGRAVING. ADAPTED FROM MEDIAEVAL GOLDSMITH'S
WORK. L.F.D.
©KI/KLMJi
0^> OR ST5
191. L.F.D.
fl BCD Lrc
HIJKJ-/AN
0PQR5T
0PI4-V<NZ
192. L.F.n.
SEBMII1
[93. SCRATCHING. ADAPTED FROM OLD SPANISH. L.F. D.
194. INCISED. ALFRED
5*1
^mm^smjmsm^^mk
mmmmmmm^
ARPENTER AND L.F. D.
195- wood-
CARVING. L.F.D.
196. ENGRAVING ON SILVER. L.F.D.
xQt~^
w^TK^iawiT
rfjGftr^&fa&toH^R
Wit?*
tr"4
7^§§',,"Ja^J
^^§x
11PM
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r^3
/'•X n™^"- ^-j^4*3**
197. ENGRAVING ON BRASS. ADAPTED FROM OTTO HUPP
I98. EMBROIDERED IN COUCHED CORD. L.F,D.
199- BEATEN METAL. L.F.D.
■
' « --•.»• • ■ « . * .,« . ■ »
HI*1 v., •
"• 7 <-": -111
ISM
200. NEEDLEWORK. ADAPTED. L.F.D.
A
/-
3\
y
**
j
J I
r /t
\ I 1
DPQ
v
r
Km
201. SGRAFFITTO. L.F.D.
202. SQUARE-CUT. QUASI-CHINESE. L.F.D,
203. BRUSHWORK. QUASI-JAPANESE. L.F.D.
ABCDEFGH!
LflinOTOR
5TIMDXY
Mconopqrrt
204. BKUS1IWORK. MUCHA.
ABCUE
FGtMJK
lmdgp
VWKVZ
^bcdepcibtjklmn
opcjrstuvw,\ajz
205. STENCILLING ADAPTED FROM E. GRASSET AND
M. P. VERNEUIL.
ut\t\
206. PENWORK. FRANZ STUCK.
MODERN ALPHABETS
IN WHICH THE INFLUENCE OF
THE IMPLEMENT EMPLOYED IS
NOT SO EVIDENT
ABC DE
FG HIJK
LMNOP
QRSTU
VWXYZ
a b c d e fg h i
jklmnopqr
stuvwxyz
207. "SKELETON." J. VINYCOMB.
ABCDEF
GHIJKL
MNOPQR
STUVW
XYZ&fr
abcdefghij
klmnopqr
stuvwxyz
208. "FRENCH." J. VINYCOMB.
ABCDE
FQ HJ K
LMNOP
QRSTU
VWXYZ
209. L.F. D.
ABCDE
FGHIK
LMNOP
QKSTU
wxyz
2IO. L.F.D.
LA
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n
L4
^J
<2
<\
211. J. CROMAR WATT, ARCHITECT,
Oil
PD
D
P=\
^J
rniKumim
©pqrstmivwxyz.
31^; J. W. WEEKES.
ABCDEF
GHIJKU-
(DHOPQ
RSTUV,
21^. BLOCK CAPITALS. W. J. PEARCE.
ABCDEF
GHIJKL
MMNOPQ
RRSSTU
VWXYYZ
abcdefghi j k I m n
o pqrstuvwxy/z^.
214. "SANS SERIF." J, W. WEEKES,
*^i6K
2ic. COTHTC CAPITALS. W. J. PEARCE.
A BCD
EFGHI
JKLM
NOPQR
STUV
WXYZ*
2l6. OTTQ HUPP, " ALPHABETE UND ORNAMENTE,"
mm
217.
mm
wz
L.F.D. ^^^^
flBCB
fTIJKL
OR 5T
X y Z/.„
trenuKL
UVWXVZ. J2
218.
ETG
TTNOP
uvw.
TfTlOPQIOT
34-561190 .
PATTEN WILSON.
219-
(TO
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OPQR
L.F. D.
If
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Wi
I
£1*3!
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IS
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L.F.D.
ever
(jHIJ kl
MNOPQR
5TOVW
abcdeP^bijkilro
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222. L.F.D.
JK
MN
D
P~~ 7 *
223. MODERN GERMAN.
ABCDE
FOHIJK
LMNOP
QRSTU
VWXYZ
224. FRANZ STUCK.
AMPERZANDS AND
NUMERALS
/-*
<x<k&
8l&
as
225. AMPERZANDS. 7TH TO 15TH CENTURIES.
&TT&-V
22.6. Amperzands. i6th century, etc., freely rendered.
227. CUT IN STONE. 1477
ISA A
228. STONE AND BRASS. 1439-1491.
M
V
2.29. CUT-IN STONE. 1492.
ify \m if if
1579 ll<4\
230. CHIEFLY BRASSES.^1520-1545.
1274/
jlHS
j2M.r
231. BRASSES
67*90
6>S90
678?0
6TS90
1520-159
232. BRONZE. ABOUT 1550.
1Z..HS
<>7$ 00
233. BRONZE. ABOUT 1560.
1Z345
67 W
234. BRUSHWORK. FAIENCE. 16TH CENTURY
67890
235. BRUSHWORK. 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY.
678<)0
236. ITALIAN MS. 16TH CENTURY.
678
237. BRUSHWORK. GILT, ON BLACK. 1548?
238. INCISED IN WOOD. GERMAN.
07S9O
239. BRASS. 16TH CENTURY.
67890
240. BRUSHWORK 16TH CENTURY.
( 234$
241. ABOUT 1700.
K?
i
242. CUT IN STONE. 1634.
UN WO
irtfif
Mi
243. RELIEF IN BRASS OR BRONZE. 1647.
<JA
244. STONE. 1692.
1/615/ Jtf&
<7
J
r
Q
X<o2$
M79
t(307 16S9
245. BRASS AND WOOD. 1563-I707.
J12334
J7Z 048
f3
246. i8th century.
m6zw k7X9
\72\ HIS
SZ3SZX73B
xcm86f765
\77¥-<S9$ 3783
247. BRASSES, ETC. 1716-1783.
^3 4 $ ty S
248. BRASS WIRE INLAY ON WOOD. 1740.
U7J j 55 J
1643 c/747
249. ENGRAVED ON STEEL, OR INLAID IN WIRE ON WOOD.
IS73-I747-
4^
r*
m
&Q\
'^ <J
250. L.F.D,
251. MODERN.
252. L.F.D.
A2345G7
$ 9 so ij i2
253. ALOIS MOLLEK.
Ji345
$7M
254. L.F.D.
INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ARRANGED UNDER ARTISTS,
COUNTRIES, MATERIALS & PROCESSES,
AND STYLES
Note. — The reference numerals are to the figure numbers of the
illustrations, and in no case to pages.
Aldegrever (Heinrich) .. 113 Carving .. 44, 47, 82, 91, 133,
Andrade (M.S.) .. 146, 147 195, 228
Anglo-Saxon .. 17, 18, 58, 62, Caslon (William) .. 155, 156
63, 64 Clay 201
Cocker (E.).. ..134, 135, 137,
Bell (R. Anning) .. 171, 172 I38, 139
Black letter.. 23, 24, 25, 32, 8i, Coptic 2,3,4
93, 94, 105, 124 COURTHAND 157
Brass (14th century).. .. 34. Cowtan (R. K.) . . 182, 183, 184
77, 78 Crane (Walter) . . 160, 161
„ (15th ,, ).. 42,' 85, Cresci(G. F.) .. 120,121,
93, 94 I22' I23
/-l6th -v g7 CURIONE (LUDOVICO) . . .. IIO
" (17th ',', )'.'. .'.' 128 CuRTIS 246
„ (modern) 197 Cut (See " Engraving" and
,, (numerals) . . 230, 231, "Incising ").
239, 245, 247 Cdt in marble • • 19. 5i, 54,
Bronze . . 29, 30, 72, 98, 230, 56, 8i, 90, 112
231. 232, 233, 243 CuT in stone • • z3< 26, 31- 57,
Brushwork.. 40, 191, 192, 198. 92, 125, 127, 142, 143- 150,
203, 204, 234, 235, 237, 241 227. 228, 229, 242, 244,
Byzantine 12 245> 246
Cut leather 46
Caroline 16
Carpenter (Alfred) . . 194 Danish 70
254
INDEX.
Day (Lewis F.) . . 165, 166, 168,
180, 187, 188, 190-196, 199-
203, 209, 210, 219-222,
252, 254
durer (albrecht) . . io4, io5
Embossing 199
Embroidery . . 50, 126, 191,
198, 200
English (6th century)
■ • 58
■• 13
.. 69
■• 73
79,8o
) 44. 114.
ii5
) --I33,
134. 135.
137. 138.
139. 142,
143
) 39. 144.
145. 155, 156
(modern).. 160 et seq.
Engraving .. 17, 113, 187, 190,
193
„ (brass) . . 34, 42, 77,
78, 85, 128, 197
„ (bronze) . . 29, 30
„ (silver) . . 49, 196
„ (numerals) 230, 231,
249
Etching 153
(nth
(12th
(13th
(15th
(1 6th
(17th
(18th
French (18th century) . . 136,
140, 141, 151, 152
„ (modern) . . 178, 189,
208, 209
Galician 60
German (12th century) . 68
(13th ,, ) .. 72
(14th ,, ) 77,78
(15th „ ) .. 23,
24, 40, 84,
85, 87, 89,
90, 95. 98
„ (16th ,, ) . . 104,
105, 113,
119, 127
(17th ,, ) 128, 129
„ (18th „ ) .. 35,
148, 149, 150,
153. 154
„ (modern) . . 162, 163,
223
„ (numerals) . . 227, 228,
229, 231, 232, 233,
242
Gesso 198
Gilt . . . . 5, 37, 70, 237
Glass (See " Stained Glass ").
Grasset (E.) . . . . 189, 205
Greek .. 1, 5, 29, 51, 54, 55
Grounding out .. 67, 239, 243,
245
Guichard (E.) 151
Flemish . . 42, 92, 103, 124,
125, 228, 249
Franco-Gallic 14
French (12th century) 66, 67
„ (14th ,, ) ... 76
„ (15th „ ) 86, 91
Hebrew 158, 159
Hispano-Moresque . . .. 32
Hopfer (Daniel) .. ..119
Hupp (Otto) . . 162, 163, 164,
197, 216
INDEX. 255
Illumination .. 16,61,62, MSS. (14th century). . 4.74
63, 64, 66, 80, 100, 101 ,, (15th „ ).. 80, 84.,
Image (Selwyn) 186 87,88,89
Incised.. 76, 99, 114, 124, 125, ,, (amperzands) .. .. 225
129, 154, 194, 238, 245 Metal (See "Brass," "Bronze,"
(See also "Cut") &c).
Inlay 19,248,249 Mucha 204
Irish 58,61 Muller (Alois) 253
Italian (13th century) .. 20 Murphy (Bailey Scott) . . 170
(14th „ ) 75. 76
„ (15th „ ) 38, 112
(16th „ ) 33,36, Painting.. 40, 89, 103, 191, 192,
99, 101, 106-110, 116, J98. 203, 204
117, 118, 120-123 " on earthenware ..32,
„ (numerals) . . 234-236 33. 36, 39, 234
Italics . . 27, 132, 142, 167, 168, •• on glass ■ ■ 4», 240
lgc; „ on wood 35, 38, 86,
148
Lace I26 Palatino 116
Laurent J52 Paul (Roland W.) .. ..181
Leather 41.46 pEArce(W. J.) .. ..213,215
Lesgret J36- J4T Penwqrk (4th-7th century) 6,
Lombardic . . 19, 21, 34, 40, 45, 7) Q) IO( II( I4> 5g
52 ,, (8th-i 1 th century) 1,
Maingueneau 140 2, 5, 8, 15, 18, 59,
Marble . . 19 51, 54, 56, 81, 60, 61
90,112 1. (12th century) ..3,68
Mosaic 28 .. (13th » ) 20,21,
MSS. (4th century) . . .. 6 71.73
,, (5th „).... 9 „ (14th » ) -.4,74
„ (6th „ ) 10,11,58 .. (15th „ ) 80, 83,
„ (7th „ ) . . 7, 14, io5
59. 64 ,» (16th „ ) . . ioo,
„ (8th „ ) ..8, 59, 60, 101, 104,
61, 62, 64 106-111,
„ (9th „ ) .. 1, 63, 64 116, 117,
„ (10th „ ) . . 2, 15, 65 120-123
„ (nth „ ) .. .. 5 „ (17th „ ) .. 130,
„ (12th „ ) .. 3, 66, 131, 132,
68, 69 134, 135,
„ (13th „ ).. 20,71, 73 137, 138, 139
256 INDEX.
Penwork (18th century) .. 136, Stone (17th century) .. 47,
140, 141, 144- 127, 142, 143
147. 149. !52 „ (18th „ ) .. 26,
,, (modern).. 160,161, 150
162,164, 166, 170- „ (numerals) ..227,228,
J77i 179-186, 188, 229. 242, 244-247
206, 223 Stuck (Franz) . . . . 206, 224
,, (amperzands) .. 225 Swiss 243
(numerals) . . 236, 246
Picking out with a point . . 37, Tiemroth (J. H.) .. .. 149
52,70 Tischberger (John) . . .. 153
Pite (Prof. A. Beresford) 173, Type .. ..118,155,156,189
174
Portuguese . . . . 146, 147 Uncials 8, 69, 71, 72, 73, 179
Pottery. . . . 32, 33, 36, 39, 53
Printed .. . . 55, 96, 115, 15 5. T7 ,,, -,-,.
ddi v > d> dd> verneuil (m. p.) . . . . 205
„ , " Vespasiano 117
Rivets on leather .... 41 TT ,T x
_ ,. „ o Vicentino (Ludovico) . . 107,
Roman . . 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 28, 56, 0
' ' y' ' ' ' 3 ' 108, 109
„ D' VlNYCOMB (J.) .. .. 167,208
Saxon 16, 64 „ v
' n Visigothic 15
Scratching .. .. 193,201 ,r ._, . 0
0 ^J' „ Vischer (Peter) . . . . 98
Serlio .. 118 v J
Shelley 144
Silver 43, 49, 196 Waldram (B.) . . . . 175, 177
Slate 129,154 Watt (J. Cromar) .. ..211
Smith (Percy J.) .. ..176 Weekes (J. W.). . 169, 212, 214
Snell(C) 145 West (Walter) 185
Spanish. .37, 53, 76, 82, in, 193 Wilson (Patten) . . . . 218
Stained Glass . . 45, 48, 52 Wood (12th century). . . . 67
Steel .... 249 n (J5th „ ).. 38,91
Stencilling 205 » (l6tn » )•■ •• IJ4
Stone (2nd and 3rd cen- » (I7tn » )•• •• J33
turies) 57 » (18th „ ).. 35,148
„ (nth century) ..13 » (modern).. .. ..195
,. (14th „ ) . . 82, i) (numerals) . . 228, 238,
92 245, 248, 249
„ (15th „ ) .. 31, Wood engraving.. 55, 96, 115
79,82 Wright (Andrew) 157
„ (16th „ ) .. 44,
125,127 Yciar (Juan) in
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