The hand book of mediaeval alphabets and devices

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HENRY GEORGE BOHN

1856

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PREFACE.

S the object of this publication is to offer to the
architect, the decorator, and the student of orna-
mental design, such a series of examples of alpha-
bets, numerals and devices, in use during the middle
ages, as may be found practically useful, a few in-
troductory remarks, tracing the history of decora-
tive art in the departments from which we have
selected our authorities ; and pointing out the pecu-
liarities of design, or of treatment, prevalent at dif-
ferent periods, may not be considered either impertinent or unnecessary.*

The greater number of our specimens having been taken from illuminated
MSS. a slight sketch of the origin and progress of that beautiful art, which
prevailed in Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century, is entitled to
precedence.

The art of applying colour to written documents seems to have had an
eastern origin. The Egyptians were in the habit of rubricating their MSS.
and this practice may have passed to Greece and Rome, though no evidence
of it exists in either country previous to the Christian era. In the rolls of
Papyri, discovered at Herculaneum (written in the early half of the first cen-
tury), there is no trace of any ornament whatever, though we know from Ovid
and Pliny that the Romans, long before the destruction of Pompeii, were ac-
customed to rubricate their MSS. and adorn them with paintings.

The process of laying on and burnishing gold and silver appears to have
been familiar to the oriental nations from a period of remote antiquity ; and,
although there are no instances of its use in the Egyptian Papyri, yet it is not
unreasonable to believe that the Greeks acquired from Egypt, or India, the
art of thus ornamenting manuscripts, and probably conveyed it to the Romans.
Among the later Greeks, the usage became so common that the scribes or
artists in gold seem to have constituted a distinct class. The luxury thus in-
troduced was augmented by writing on vellum, stained of a purple or rose
colour, the earliest instance of which is recorded by Julius Capitolinus, in his
life of the Emperor Maximinus the younger, to whom his mother made a pre-
sent of the Poems of Homer, written on purple vellum, in golden letters. This
took place at the commencement of the third century. For upwards of a hun-
dred years the practice seems to have continued of rare occurrence, but, to-

* Our initial is taken from a coloured drawing, now in the British Museum, made by Albert Durer
for the capital at the commencement of the first chapter of the Editio princeps of Suidas's Lexicon.
Printed at Milan in 1499.

wards the end of the fourth century, we learn from a well known passage of
St. Jerome, that it had become more frequent. It was, however, confined
solely to copies of the Scriptures and devotional books, written for the libraries
of Princes, and the service of monasteries.

The celebrated Codex Argenteus of Uphilas, written in silver and gold
letters, on a purple ground, about a. d. 360, is, perhaps, the most ancient
existing specimen of this magnificent mode of caligraphy ; but a fine example
may be seen in a fragment of the New Testament, executed in the fifth or
sixth century, in the British Museum, Cottonian Librar}^, Titus, c. xv. This
taste for gold and purple manuscripts seems only to have reached England at
the close of the seventh century, when Wilfred, Archbishop of York, enriched
his church with a copy of the Gospels thus adorned, and it is described by
his biographer, Eddius (who lived about that period), as almost a miracle,
and unheard of before in this part of the world. But, in the eighth and ninth
centuries, the art of staining the vellum appears to have declined, and the
colour is no longer the same bright and beautiful purple, violet, or rose colour
of the preceding centuries. It is rare also to meet with a volume stained
throughout, the artist contenting himself with colouring a portion, such as the
title, preface, or canon of the mass.

Manuscripts written in letters of gold, on white vellum, are chiefly con-
fined to the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. One of the finest examples
extant is in the Harleian Collection of the British Museum, No. 2788.

Writing in gold was less employed in the eleventh, twelfth, and thir-
teenth centuries than in earlier times, but it again came into usage in the
fourteenth, particularly in devotional books of persons of rank. It then ex-
hibits, however, a totally different appearance from the ancient art, and the
gilding seems to be applied, not in a liquid state, but in leaves. Among
the Greeks, the usage of writing whole pages in gold continued to the latest
period of the empire.

The initial letters of manuscripts in the earliest period were not distin-
guished in size from the rest of the text (the whole of which was then written
in capitals), and when coloured, were of a much simpler taste than began to
be used at the end of the seventh century.

From the eighth to the eleventh century occur in Greek and Latin MSS.
initial letters, of a large size, at the commencement of books and chapters,
fancifully composed of human figures, animals, birds, fish, flowers, &c. These
letters are called by the Benedictines Historiees, because they often bear re-
ference to, or illustrate the text to which they are affixed. The same descrip-
tion of letters, but of more elegant design, is to be met with at a later period,
and ultimately degenerated into mere grotesque.

The Irish or Hiberno-Saxon School of Illumination, is of a peculiar and
marked style, and characterized by a design and execution not found in MSS.
of other nations. It seems to have had an eastern origin. The chief features

of the ornaments ^nd letters are, extreme intricacy of pattern, interlacings
of knots in a diagonal or square form, sometimes interwoven with animals, and
terminations in heads of serpents, or birds, to which may be added the use
of red dotted lines round the edge of the larger letters. The wonderful
skill displayed in illuminations of this character may be seen in the cele-
brated Durham Book of the eighth century, in the British Museum, from which
the border to our first plate is taken.

Among the Saxons, towards the close of the tenth century, a style of
ornament prevailed, which must be considered peculiar to themselves, and
which, for boldness, correctness of design, and richness, cannot be surpassed
by any works executed on the Continent at the same period. The magni-
ficent Benedictional of the Duke of Devonshire, written and illuminated be-
tween 930 and 970,*= the Benedictional at Rouen, and others of.- the same
school of design, known to have proceeded from Winchester, is sufficient to
prove this assertion.

We have only given one plate from Drawings of an earlier date than
the Twelfth Century, under a conviction that these remote examples are
usually more remarkable for quaintness than refinement ; and though highly
interesting to the antiquary as a means of tracing the history of decorative art,
they rarely present any beauties of ornamentation the modern artist can profit
by in his studies, or furnish authorities in any style on which his talent is
likely to be employed.

The six specimens given in our second plate sufficiently illustrate the gene-
ral character of the larger capital letters of this period. Copies of the Bible
and other sacred writings were then frequently produced in volumes of a
prodigious size, and the letters at the commencement of the various books, or
important divisions, are often on a corresponding scale, and exhibit a won-
derful amount of graceful and intricate scroll work, drawn with great boldness
and remarkable accuracy.

The Lizard, from the facility with which its graceful form could be made
to harmonize with every variety of curve, seems (under various conventional
modes of treatment) to have been the favourite animal introduced in all
kinds of ornamental design during the whole period of the middle ages ; but,
perhaps, at no time so abundantly as during the twelfth century, when we find
it not only a leading feature, but exhibiting all the fanciful combinations, the
most whimsical imagination of an artist could suggest.

When the colouring of these letters was of a simple character the outlines
were usually red, the foliage and figures without colour, but relieved by having
the intervening spaces picked in with various tints. In more highly finished
examples, the letter (in its ordinary form) was represented in burnished gold,
and the foliage and other accessaries by which it was surrounded and inter-

* See Archaeologia, vol. xxiv.

laced, formed a mass of th^ most varied and gorgeous colours, brought into
harmony with each other by the admirable taste almost invariably shown in
their arrangement. In these specimens, the letter, and the whole of the
details are made distinct by a strong black outline.

A delicate light blue and bright green were generally introduced into
the titles and initial letters of the commoner latin MSS. of this period,
written in England and France, and continued till the middle of the succeed-
ing century.

Our third plate gives an alphabet of letters employed during this time
in MSS. of an ordinary character, and also one consisting of the small capi-
tals by which the first word, title, or sentence, was continued from the illu-
minated initial, to be followed by the ordinary black-letter text. These small
capitals were sometimes rubricated through the whole word or sentence, and
at others coloured blue and red, or blue, red and green alternately.

In the thirteenth century a completely new character was given to illumi-
nated letters. The larger ones, composed chiefly of scroll work, became more
intricate, and lost in minuteness of style and over elaboration, the boldness of
character, and simplicity of treatment of the preceding age. In the smaller
initials figures were more abundantly employed, and groups representing the
leading facts in the volumes themselves, were frequently given within the cir-
cumference of the letters.

The back-grounds are often masses of burnished gold, while the letter is
surrounded with the most delicate diaperings, foliage, and grotesque monsters.

During the fourteenth century the same (or, if possible, a more elaborate)
character continued to pervade illuminated letters and pictures, as may be
seen in three of our illustrations in Plate 8 ; and to the early part of this cen-
tury may be attributed the introduction in England and France of large initial
letters of purple, red, and gold, containing figures of men and animals, and
terminating in spiral scrolls, which extend along the upper and lower mar-
gins of the volume, often supporting small groups of single figures of dogs,
hares, apes, &c., or the various sports and pastimes of the period.

Plate 7 exhibits a few specimens of letters of a remarkably delicate and
elegant character, executed during the first half of this century. They would
seem to have been copied from some exquisite lace-work or embroidery, the
loose threads at the ends of the patterns being twisted into graceful spiral
terminations.

In every department of Art, such immense strides were made during the
fifteenth century, that conventional treatment began sensibly to decline, and
an almost endless variety, both in design and colouring, may be found in the
illuminated MSS. of the time, to be met with abundantly in our public and
private libraries.

It is therefore almost impossible to particularize where so ample a field is
presented, especially as the limits of our publication confine us to a few of the

simple examples calculated for ordinary reproduction, instead of the more
elaborate illustrations by which alone any satisfactory impression could be con-
veyed to our readers of the degree of perfection to which the illuminator's art
had then arrived.

It may, however, be remarked that the ornaments and letters were in a
totally different taste to those of the preceding century. Nature was again
studied, and in lieu of grotesque figures we are presented with flowers of every
hue, fruits, birds, and insects, most delicately and minutely coloured upon
gold grounds, with a perfection of execution and a brilliancy of effect never
before known.

It was, however, in the early part of the sixteenth century that the highest
degree of excellence was reached in all the departments of Art. During that
glorious period the most distinguished Painters seem to have been as remarkable
for the versatility of their attainments as for the comparative perfection attend-
ing their efforts in the special departments in which their fame principally rests.
Some were not only Painters and Sculptors, but practised also as Architects ;
while many began their career (and continued occasionally to exercise their
skill) as goldsmiths, chasers, engravers, &c. and thus combining an intimate
knowledge of all the resources of decorative with those of the higher walks of
Art, works of a merely ornamental character were frequently rendered ex-
quisitely beautiful by the union of elegant forms, highly-finished details, and
the most fanciful arrangement of appropriate figures, emblems, and devices.

In the class of art more immediately under our attention, many of the
most eminent Painters (and who are popularly known only by their larger
works) exercised their skill most successfully, and thus miniature painting
acquired a new dignity and importance from being practised by those cele-
brated masters. The artist, however, who arrived at the highest degree of
distinction, and who has never been surpassed as an illuminator of manuscripts,
was Julio Clovio. His paintings are inimitable, and must be seen to be justly
appreciated. They seem to combine all the refinement of Italian Art in com-
position and colouring, with a delicacy of execution only to be found in Persian
and other eastern MSS., in which a tame conventional style is made interest-
ing by the minuteness and perfection of its details. They were chiefly exe-
cuted for the libraries of Cosmo de Medici, and the Cardinals Grimani and
Parnese, and but few specimens have reached this country.

There is one in the Townley collection and another in that of the late
Mr. Grenville, now deposited in the British Museum. The latter was
painted expressly for Philip II. of Spain, and is described at great length in
the Bibliographical Decameron.

The French, German, and Flemish illuminations, though different in
character, were but little behind those by their Italian rivals in point of
merit, as may be seen by an examination of the many specimens still existing
from the hands of Memling, Lucas Van Ley den, and other celebrated

Painters ; but in England the art of miniature painting declined from the
latter part of the fifteenth century, owing to the general employment of
foreigners, chiefly Flemings. Among the finest examples, accessible to the
public, of works of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, may be mentioned the
Pliny in the Douce collection of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the
Sforziada in the British Museum, (from which we have selected our Alphabet
Plates 31 and 32,) as specimens of Italian Art. The Hours of Anne of
Britany in the Louvre, the Bedford Missal, the Roman de la Eose, &c. in the
British Museum, as French ; and, as German or Flemish, a copy of the Peni-
tential Psalms in the Soane collection, attributed to Lucas Van Leyden, and
numerous volumes of an equally high character of art in the Douce Series, and
in our National Museum.

For a century after the invention of printing, the art of illuminating
made steady progress ; but from that time it began gradually to decline, and
although it still existed so late as the seventeenth century, it was rarely prac-
tised, and almost wholly confined to religious and heraldic books. Th?- dis-
covery of engraving on wood having quickly followed that of printing, the
drawings of the time were copied and multiplied by this cheaper process. The
progress, also, of the reformation, and other religious and political causes,
having at the same time combined to withdraw from Art the patronage it had
received in most of the countries of Europe for so many ages, the fashion of
illustrating books dwindled in frequency, degenerated in character, and ulti-
mately ceased altogether.

With the exception of illuminated drawings and wood-cuts, monumental
brasses have furnished our chief authorities. At what period efiigies and in-
scriptions engraved on plates of brass as memorials to the departed were first
introduced seems involved in doubt. The earliest specimen now known is
that of Sir John D'Aubernoun, of the date of 1277, in the chancel of the
church of Stoke Dabernon, in Surrey.

These brasses are of the highest possible interest, as showing the skill of
our ancestors in the Art of Engraving on metal for centuries before printing
seems to have been thought of; and more particularly as furnishing some of
the most satisfactory authorities which have descended to us of the character
and various changes of civil, military, and ecclesiastical costume from the
date above named till they ceased to be employed. They also supply us (as
we think our selections from them will testify) with some of the most simple
and graceful authorities for inscriptions in every kind of material where colour
is either inadmissible, or can only be employed in flat tints. The Art of
Engraving Monumental Brasses, like all the others connected with religion,
seems to have shown symptoms of decline in the sixteenth, and to have
died out towards the close of the seventeenth century.

37, Southampton Mow,
Feb. 1, 1853.

HENRY SHAW.

LIST OF THE PLATES.

Plate

1. From the British Museum, Royal MS. I. E. VII. Date, the 10th Century.

A fine, but mutilated copy of the Gospels, in folio. The leaves containing the figures of the evange-
lists, and the titles, written in silver and gold, are on purple vellum. The rest of the volume is in
uncial characters, arranged in double columns. It is most probably of the gth, and certainly not later
than the 10th Century. The border is taken from a magnificent copy of St. Cuthbert's Gospels in tho
British Museum, called the Durham Book, and written between the years 698 and 721.

2. From a Copy of the Works of Josephus and other MSS. Date, the 12th Century.

The D on this plate is taken from a MS. in the British Museum, the framework of the latter being
red, while the various ornaments within are blue, green, red, and yellow. The Letter H has a gold
ground, and the animals and foliage composing the other four letters are in red lines, the spaces sur-
rounding and within them being picked in with light purple, green, and blue colours, as indicated by
the various tints of the engraving.

3. From the British Museum, Royal MS. I.C. VII. and others of the same date.

4. Letters in Bronze, from the Monument of Henry III. in Westminster Abbey.

5. From a Brass in the Cathedral at Lubeck.

This Brass commemorates Burchard de Serken, who is recorded to have died in the year 1317 at
the extraordinary age of 121, and John de Miil, who died a. d. 1341.

6. From an embroidered Altar Cloth in the Church of St. Mary, at Soest, in West-

phalia. Date, the 14th Century.

The inscription on the ground of the Altar Cloth is represented within lozenge shaped compartments,
as represented in the engraving, and in lines alternately with a grotesque kind of Dragons.

7. From the British Museum, Royal MS. 6. E. IX.

These Letters are from a very interesting MS. which was written for Robert, King of Naples, who
succeeded to the throne in the year 1309. It consists of a series of latin Poems of a theological and
political character, written in different sorts of latin verse, and is profusely illustrated with miniatures,
representing various allegorical figures, which are of so large a size as sometimes to occupy the entire
page. At folio 11 is a portrait of the king himself, seated on his throne and regally attired.

8. From various illuminated MSS. chiefly in the British Museum. Of the 14th Century.

9. 10. From the Monument of Richard II. in Westminster Abbey, and others of the

same Date.

1 1. From a very splendid Copy on Vellum of the first edition of the Bible, printed by
Fust and Schceffer, in the British Museum, of the date of 1462, and MSS. of about the
same Date.

12. From Summa Barthom^ei Pisani Ord. PRiEDic. de Casibus Conscientije. Date about
1472.

13. From a MS. at Rouen, and from a Benedictionale in the possession of the Rev. W.

Maskell. Date, about 1480.

14. Froji the Golden Bible. Printed at Augsburg. Date, the end of the 15th Century.

15. From Westminster Abbey. Date, the 15th and 16th Centuries.

The Alphabet here represented is chiefly taken from the Monument of Henry VII. In early
inscriptions it was usual to separate the words from each other by a stop, device, or grotesque, and
in the lower parts of the plate we have shown a series of leaves and flowers employed for that purpose
taken from various brasses. In Plate 4 from the monument of Henry III. and in Plate 10 from that
of Richard II. portions of the inscriptions round the effigies are given to show the mode of intro-
ducing these stops or devices, the longer ones being employed at the termination of sentences, or
when the inscription does not reach the end of the panel within which it is placed.

16. Three Alphabets from monumental Brasses. Date, the end of the 15th Century.

17. 18. From a Copy of the Romaunt de la Rose. Date, the beginning of the 16th Century.

19. From Wood Cuts. Date, the beginning of the 16th Century.

20. From the Missale Traijectense. Date, 1515.

21. From the Missale Traijectense, and alphabets of the end of the 15th Century.

22. From an Engraving on Wood. Date, the beginning of the 16th Century.

23. From the Hystoire de Perceval le Galloys. Date, 1530.

24. Branch and Riband Letters.

The four Letters in the upper part of the page are of a character very prevalent in MSS. of the latter
part of the 15th, and first half of the 16th century. They may be termed branch Letters, from being
formed by the interlacing of branches and leaves into the shapes of letters. These are usually, if not
always, painted in a rich brown colour, and heightened with gold, the flowers or devices within them
being given in their proper colours. The Alphabet at the bottom of the page belongs also to a class
in very general use at the same time. These may be called Riband Letters, from their being composed
either wholly of ribands fantastically twisted into the shapes of letters, or ribands entwining letters of
the ordinary form, and showing delicate threads or branches in the openings between the different
folds. These Letters are commonly painted in a delicate pink or purple tint, the ground being of gold,
and usually dotted. The flowers, birds, or insects introduced are always in their natural colours.

25. 26. Riband Letters, from a Volume entitled Orthographia practica, 4to. Carag. 1548.

LIST OF THE PLATES.

27. Miscellaneous Letters from early printed Books and Drawings.

The Monogram is from a design by Holbein, in the British Museum.

28. Grotesque Letters, from early printed Books.

29. From a Drawing in the British Museum, and Facsimiles of early Engravings on
Wood.

30. From Italian Illuminations.

31, 32.
OR this Alphabet we are indebted to a series of exquisite Illu-
minations in a printed work, entitled La Historia delle cose

facte DALLO INVICTISSIMO DUCA FRANCESCO SfORZA, SCRIPTA IN

latino da Giovanni Simoneta, et tradocta in lingua Fio-
iiENTiNA DA Christofero Landino. Milano, Antonio Zarotto,
1490, folio.

This is the presentation copy to Cardinal Sforza, and in the original
velvet binding, with silver niellos, and knobs on the cover. The niellos
represent a fine portrait of Ludovico II Moro, and the badges of the
family of Sforza. The volume is beautifully printed on vellum of the finest
texture, and is ornamented with 34 illuminated initials of the most exqui-
site finish. The first leaf of the text has a magnificently illuminated border
round it, exhibiting a splendid specimen of the talents of Jerome Veronese
(Girolomo da i Libri). It contains beautiful miniature portraits of Francesco
Sforza, and Ludovico Sforza, surnamed II Moro. The remaining ornaments consist of the arms and
devices of the Sforza family, and groups of children in the best style of the Venetian school.

The portions of the letters formed of mouldings are sometimes coloured in brown heightened with
gold, in other cases in red, blue, or green, and the foliage is varied in the same manner. The whole
of them have very elaborate back-grounds, composed of pearls, flowers, and scroll work on the same
rich colours. The scrolls and mouldings are formed of the most delicate gold lines. The letter at the
beginning of this article shows the character of these back-grounds, but it has been considered unne-
cessary to repeat them through the whole alphabet.

Some few of the letters most rarely used are not to be found in the volume, but we have taken the
liberty of supplying them from our own designs under a persuasion that it would be desirable to have
those alphabets likely to be called into frequent use complete, and that our experience might enable us
to supply these deficiencies in better taste than many of the persons who would feel the want of them.
In Plate VI. and one or two other instances, where we found it impossible to supply the missing letters
from any authority we could meet with of precisely the same character, we have used the same
license, always taking pains to preserve the forms of corresponding ones in use about the same
period, although slightly different in detail.

33. Our plate is occupied with an Alphabet enriched with grotesques and scroll work in the possession of P. A.
Hanrott, Esq. and a series of the various kinds of Arabic numerals in use from the thirteenth to the end of
the seventeenth Century. The one from the British Museum, Cotton MS. Vespasia. A. II. written
during the latter half of the 13th Century, is supposed to be the earliest known in this country. They have
been found in Spanish MSS. of the 12th Century.

34. A collection of sacred and other Monograms, taken from stained Glass, early
printed Books, &c.

35. Book Covers with Monograms and Motto, Badge, &c. from a monumental Brass.

The Book-covers are from a collection of designs for goldsmiths and jewellers* work by Holbein in
the British Museum, and the Motto, Badge, &c. are from the back-ground of a German sepulchral
brass, and most probably copied from tapestry or hangings of some kind in use at the time.

36. Heraldic Badges.

The first subject on our plate is taken firom a highly finished engraving after a design by Israel Van
Meckenen, and is an admirable example of the picturesque mode of treatment applied to heraldry in
former times. Our second example is taken from a most exquisite and highly finished drawing of the
size of our print, (probably by Holbein, or executed under his superintendence) in a volume in the
British Museum, entitled Le Pasteur Evangelique, formerly belonging to Anne Boleyn. It contains
her arms on a shield, surmounted by a crown, having below her badge, a white falcon on the root of a
tree, surrounded with red and white roses. The wreath by which these armorial devices are en-
circled is composed of clusters of roses (on the one side a red rose being placed between two white
ones, and on the other a white between two red ones). From these spring a series of oak leaves and
acorns, mingled with laurel. The crown is attached to the upper part of the wreath by ribands, which
are tied, and rise above it in the shape of bows, and then interlace it in the most playful curves, termi-
nating with rich tassels. The whole composition is one of the most graceful and elegant we have met
with.

Our third cut is taken from a roll termed the Tournament Roll in the College of Arms. The tour-
nament represented on this roll was exhibited, with other pageants, at Westminster, in the second year
of the reign of Henry VIII. on the 13th of February, 1510-1 1, in honour of Queen Catherine, and on
occasion of the birth of the King's first child. Prince Henry, who died but a few days after these rerels
had been performed. Our device is taken from a drawing at the end of the roll.

CHISWICK PBESS : C. WHIXIINOHAM, TOOK8 COURT, CHANCERY I.ANE.

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FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM, ROYAL MS. I. E. VL

Date, about 1272.

FROM THE MONUMENT OF HENRY III. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Date, about 1341.

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FROM A BRASS IN THE CATHEDRAL AT LUBECK.

Date, the 14th Century.

FROM AN EMBROIDERED ALTAR CLOTH, IN THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY,
AT SOESi;, IN WESTPHALIA.

FROM THE MONUMENT OF RICHARD II. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
AND OTHERS OF THE SAME DATE.

Date, about 1400.

FROM THE MONUMENT OF RICHARD II. AND OTHERS ABOUT THE SAME
DATE, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Date about 147.5.

FROM SUMMA BARTHOLOM.EI PISANI ORD. PRiEDIC. DE CASIBUS CONSCIENTlili.

Date, 1490.

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FROM A COPY OF THE SFORZIADA, IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

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Date, 1490.

FROM A COPY OF THE SFORZIADA, IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Date, about the end of the 15th Century.

FROM THE GOLDEN BIBLE, PRINTED AT AUGSBURG.

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Date about 1480.

FROM A MS. AT ROUEN.

Date about 1480.

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FROM A BENEDICTIONALE IN THE POSSESSION OF THE
REV. W. MASKELL.

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FROM WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

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Date, the beginning of the 16th Century.

FROM A COPY OF THE ROMANT DE LA ROSE.

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Date, the beginning of the 16th Century.

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FROM A COPY OF THE ROMANT DE LA ROSE.

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Date, the beginning' of the 16th Century.

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FROM WOOD CUTS.

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Date, 1515.

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FROM THE MISSALE TRAIJECTENSE.

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Date, 1515.

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FROM THE MISSALE TRAIJECTENSE.

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ALPHABETS OF END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

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Date, the beginning of the 16th Century. '''

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FROM AN ENGRAVING ON WOOD.

;

Date, 1530.

FROM THE HYSTOIRE DE PERCEVAL LE GALLOYS.

-a^

'4>

4-.

>^^;.^

.>^

#

Date, the 16th Century.

' V / ^

.nf 'nI^I

K^

1

^0.

'^^^

^^

^P:

• rff^^

r-TJ^rf;-.

BRANCH AND RIBAND LETTERS.

*f.

: t

j$ ■■•:

r^-'

^

<»•

■^•t

••f

•i- •

Date, 1547.

RIBAND LETTERS.

Date, 1547.

RIBAND LETTERS.

/

Date, from the 13th to the I6th Cntury.

I HZ XPZ

A*H m^

SACRED AND OTHER MONOGRAMS

FROM VARIOUS ILLUMINATED MSS

Dates, the 15th and 16th Centuries.

MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS FROM EARLY PRINTED BOOKS AND DRAWINGS.

></'

>

♦1

t

•

4.

•i

• t:-

:\ f?

•

f>

. '^V

• ..*.

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.-c

t ••:4- •

9

■>..

1;*

^

* • %

J>'

■ 's

■ ^*>.-

V.

■ »■ •

"\V- ♦

> •

. -1^ ■• ^

4

. • . > . •

4

4»

"»

*

"ft

•<i

S«t,

V-.-.

•ji. •

""•"V,. *»..

FROM FUST AND SCHOEFFER'S BIBLE and MSS. of about the same date.

Date, the 16th Century.

GROTESQUE LETTERS. From early printed Books

.J^'

r

Date, the 15th and J 6th Centuries.

^ . \><''

No. 2. FROM A DRAWING IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Nos. 1, 3, and 4. FAC-SIMILES OF EARLY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.

Date, the 16th Century.

FROM ITALIAN ILLUMINATIONS.

DATE ABOUT 1480.

S

('foHi ,1 M S m the. posscKRiou of Philip flanrott ivsq'

5 Jit. Mus™^ Vespa-Bian A . U .
Datel5*CentT

1 -x3>.tjd^AS ^o

a3iit. ivius'," Lansdown M.S. 'If,!
Da-te about 1470.

Bnt.Mus" Arundel 343
Date L4«'Gent^

VisitmujaC^txABu^i^^^dXii^

a

b

?

Al

6

C

D

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'S'>^maibg, a^ertteco/K a^ j»^'^<»V ^iw

cl>^«rnie[;&(2 ap«itto>ftt a><«|Kr |$^

D-

6

«
^

m-

Tilft

G-'<

i

tt

(j:

V

tx

r-

lA

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'to.

a

7
¥

t

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tO^

s

i

4

fe

m

tt

0

^

m

1

^

k

5 ^

r

t^t™

M.S. 15'.'' Oiiliiry.

In tiic C-Liirch of S' Kgidf. Nurenibcit.

t 2-^/e -^ ^A^^^ 0- /X<iA,/>l<58,/^;5

roiii Salisbury CathedraJ

2

111 Iron ou a Mouse
Tipar Aix la Chapelle. A la Coiir rmpenal ()«t.>ii<

im

Date, the beginning of the 16th Century,

BOOK COVERS WITH MONOGRAMS AND MOTTO, BADGE, ETC.

From a Monumental Brass.

Date, the 16th Century.

HERALDIC DEVICES.

LABELS.

424032

X

NK 5610 .S55 1856 SMC
Shaw, Henry,

The hand book of Tiediaeval
alphabets and devices