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Galleries: index · 
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![[picture: Front Cover]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/tn/00-frontcover-q75-500x306.jpg "[picture: Front Cover]")
Scans from The Book of Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval collected and engraved by Freeman Gage Delamotte (1814 – 1862); London, Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1879
If anyone is interested, I’ll try and do some better scans of the alphabets and examples of calligraphy and calligraphic initials in this book.
(Note: Mediæval is the older British English spelling of Mediaeval, or Medieval).
The full title page is transcribed alongside its image. This is an oblong octavo with alphabets printed in various colours including red, green and brown.
Title: Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval
City: London
Date: 1879
Total items: 102
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``U'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/050-16th-century-letter-u-185x200.png "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``U'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “U” from 16th Century
This ornamental capital “u” in white on black is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial. It is taken from a sixteenth-century alphabet in white on black. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 53.29.---IHS Monogram]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms-Crosses-etc.img29-IHS-monogram-q75-155x200.jpg "[picture: 53.29.---IHS Monogram]")
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``Q'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/051-16th-Century-letter-q-q85-187x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``Q'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “Q” from 16th Century
This capital “Q” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It shows a peacock or a dragon. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``U'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/051-16th-Century-letter-u-q85-187x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``U'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “U” from 16th Century
This capital letter “U” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It shows a sun, with rays and a face rather like a lion; perhaps it would be good for a chapter opening in a Narnia book! Note that this is [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 53.14.---Acorn]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms,Crosses-etc.-img14-acorn-q75-105x200.jpg "[picture: 53.14.---Acorn]")
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