This anthology of alphabets presents exceptional examples from the history of typography and calligraphy. Through it you will discover eight centuries of ornamental lettering. The letter is a creation much like an architectural construction. It is however in a well elaborated alphabet where a sense of proportion is essential that the letter comes into its own. Albrecht Diirer in the Book of Proportions (1528) demonstates not only how to form existing letters but also illustrates the basic rules to follow in creating new ones. Several years prior, Geoffrey Tory in Champjleury (1520) relates the proportions of a letter to those of the human body. The creation of the Royal Press in Paris in the 17th century leads to the creation of royal types which are for the exclusive use of this institution. These characters represent nonetheless models to copy, modify and even perfect. Some of these types invented several centuries ago are still in wide use today. Created in the 16th century by its eponym, Garamond is a type which has not aged. This is not the case for them all. The dictates of fickle fashion reserve a warm welcome for some types while others never leave the pages of model books.
The chapters "The Classics", "Gothic", "The Roman letter" "Renaissance" and "Rococo" contain numerous examples of typography and calligraphy which are representative of these essential decorative styles. Throughout time those who create alphabets have been torn between two concerns. Either elegance, restraint and discretion all serve legibility, or line breaks its constraints and the design, freed from all limitations, becomes an end in itself. Placed at the beginning of a chapter or a paragraph, ornamental capitals are a case in point. They are images intruding on the written page, a bit of mischievousness in the austere world of words. In numerous ornamental capitals representing human figures, decorative motifs are juxtaposed with animal forms.
Animals rightly so, like figures and landscapes offer unlimited possiblities for imaginative designers. And if the letter remains the raison d'etre of the designs, it is nonetheless an accessory, one motif of a whole.
All the illustrations in this book are stored on a CD-ROM you can use on Mac or PC. The images are in high resolution (TIFF format), and ready to me for any non-commercial purpose. For any professional/commercial purposes, please contact the publishers at :[email protected] The enclosed CD is free and cannot be sold separately.