Initials and Decorative Alphabets

by Erhardt D. Stiebner, Dieter Urban

Type designers and scribes creating manuscripts and books have always been fascinated with ornamenting initials in documents or books. Such initials often were the only decoration of a text or book. Throughout their history they reflect the spirit prevailing in the art of bookmaking and the art of writing in thevarious epochs. This comprehensive volume offers a wide variety of painted and printed initials, ornamented letters and whole alphabets of initials for anyone interested in type and graphics. Examples from Carlovingian Renaissance to the present are supplemented by fanciful variations from the pen of young designers. Among the subjects treated in this book are manuscript initials, printed initials, sets of initials, contemporary variations of individual letters, and fanciful, evocative letters.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1986