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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: 53.---Mongrams, Crosses, etc. [overview]]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms,Crosses-etc.-overview-q75-303x200.jpg "[picture: 53.---Mongrams, Crosses, etc. [overview]]")
53.—Mongrams, Crosses, etc. [overview]
Monograms (e.g. IHS), gothic crosses and other religious symbols. [more...]
[$]![[picture: 4.---9th Century. From an Anglo-Saxon MS. Battel Abbey.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/004-9th-Century-q75-352x200.jpg "[picture: 4.---9th Century. From an Anglo-Saxon MS. Battel Abbey.]")
4.—9th Century. From an Anglo-Saxon MS. Battel Abbey.
Today called Battle Abbey. Someone made a font from a Dover reprint of this alphabet—Rob Anderson, I think. There is no coyright statement on the font, which was probably originally a PostScript Type 1 font converted to TrueType. I don’t think [...] [more...]
[$]![[picture: 53.5.---Cross With Unkempt Hair]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/53-Monograms,Crosses-etc.-img05-gothic-cross-q75-106x200.jpg "[picture: 53.5.---Cross With Unkempt Hair]")
![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``J'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/050-16th-century-letter-j2-186x200.png "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``J'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “J” from 16th Century
This ornamental capital “J” 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...]
[$]![[picture: Decorative initial letter ``L'' from 16th Century]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DelamotteOrnamentalAlphabets/wm/big/051-16th-Century-letter-l-q85-187x200.jpg "[picture: Decorative initial letter ``L'' from 16th Century]")
Decorative initial letter “L” from 16th Century
This capital “L” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It is taken from a 16th century alphabet, and features a painter licking a brush, or perhaps a claw-footed demon eating a chicken drumstick while watching a movie, while overhead, a flying bird-fish devours a plant. [more...]
[$]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.
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