Typographic Ornaments (page 2/2)

stock block: Young male servant carrying a boar’s head

This young man carries a platter of food: a roasted pig’s head with fruit or vegetables around it, on a platter. He wears a ruff round his neck, a tunic over a long-sleeved shirt, and simple shoes; presumably he also wears hose, or tights. He carries the platter level with his face. The image is circular and the space that itsn’t the food or the youth [...] [more...]

Index, manicule, or pointing hand

Drawings of hands, often with arms attached, were added to mediæval manuscripts by people who used them; the hands were used to draw attention to particular passages of interest. [more...]

Stock block: two dancing harlequins

This vintage art pair of jesters are two men dressed as harlequins, or clowns; the one on the left has a hat with bells on it and carries a punch-and-judy style stick with a head on the end; the one on the right wears a devil costume on his head and has a wide ruff or collar [...] [more...]

stock block: scales, or equal-arm balance.

In an equal arm balance like this one you can compare the weights of things in the two pans; often you use a set of standardized weights in one pan and add them until the lever at the top is level, [...] [more...]

Stock block: Victorian railway engine and tender

No source is given for this 2-4-0 steam engine US: railroad locomotive) and it’s not clear whether it is a drawing of an actual engine and tender or just a generic one. [more...]

Stock block: deer skull

This vintage woodcut of a deer skull looks almost like a Cthulhu monster or the “Kraken”. [more...]

Stock block: Child kneeling in a circular vignette

This Victorian engraving shows a boy (probably) kneeling within a circular border; he holds a boquet of flowers in one hand as he gazes at a butterly perched on his other hand. There’s a circle of [...] [more...]

stock block: Terrier woodcut

This woodcut of a Scottish cairn terrier, or similar dog, is an example of a stock block (or stock cut): an illustraiton sold to printers on a stereotyped copy of [...] [more...]

Chapterheads with cherubs, dragons, fish, neptune, flowers

Three separate chapterheads: one with two cherubs, or naked boys, each holding one end of a rope, or a pipe with a bulb on the end, perhaps about to squirt some giant flowers; one with a Greek male head (possibly neptune) in a circle with large fish all round; one with two dragons or wyverns having the [...] [more...]

Index, pointing hand, or manicule

Drawings of hands, often with arms attached, were added to mediæval manuscripts by people who used them; the hands were used to draw attention to particular passages of interest. [more...]