Once upon a time, Lanston Type Foundry had some gorgeous examples of work with fleurons. Perhaps Gerald Giampa is reading and can post.

BR!

I don’t know of any book per se, but certainly a cruise through the work of Bruce Rogers would give you lots of inspiration.

Another person who used ornaments with great skill is Fred Anthoensen, the scholarly printer who worked in Maine for most of the twentieth century. He did lots of work for the Peabody Museum of Salem, Massachusetts Historical Society, etc. Here’s just one example of his work.

Bruce

Lost image!

Hey, folks, what do I do here? I wanted to include a picture with my post. After I wrote my little paragraphs, I clicked on “insert image,” browsed to the location I wanted, added the jpeg picture, and watched the byte counter go up to 253. Pushed “post comment” but when I visited the real deal, no picture. What am I doing wrong?

Bruce (so newly arrived I’ve not even unpacked my bags yet)

Probably not a useful guide, but very inspirational.

http://uitgeverijdebuitenkant.nlware.com/boek/lijst.php?ID=124

Or: what can you construct from one shape only? Quite a lot, it seems.

http://www.octavo.com/editions/chkwks/index.html

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~segalini/0506/gd2-project7_booklet.pdf

Bruce, don’t give up!

Hank, exactly (one of) the right idea(s). De Does’s Kaba stuff is a great example of the typographic ornamentation in which I’m interested, though it’s a real b***h getting hold of his stuff when you aren’t plugged into the type/design world professionally.

Bruce, you need to have the Flash Plug-in installed on your system. If you do you should see “Insert image” just below, and to the left, of the text entry box.

Okay, lemme try this again. Here’s a piece Fred did for some garden supply buddies in the 1940s. (He was a passionate gardener, which gives one pause: did the printer’s flowers come first, or the real ones?)

And I can’t resist adding one more, even though this is not what Maurice was asking about. In this case, it’s the title page for a novel, gotten up by the one and only W. A Dwiggins, but using only ornaments to compose the entire picture. Any of you who have worked with ornaments in metal will appreciate the work that went into locking up this little puppy.

Bruce

Exquisite. thanks for posting that Bruce.

“Monotype” FLOWER Decorations

A beautiful specimen published in London, 1924.
I think it was written by Stanley Morison and designed by Frederic Warde.

The Manual of Linotype Typography, 1923, is heavy on the ornament, with the “Updikist”(?) principal of historical allusion matching ornaments to typeface.

The Grammar of Ornament

As a book designer, Dwiggins was the Mozart of using printer’s ornaments—usually more sparely than in the exuberant example above. I think there is a list of books that Dwiggins designed—this includes emmbossed ornaments on the covers. I bet Tiffany can give you the reference if there is. Then you can go into the University library and really have some fun looking at these. If you’ve got a scanner handy post some of them for a treat for the rest of us!

IIRC Granjon was way ahead of his time in
the design of repeating-pattern ornaments.

hhp

You are probably thinking of “The Books of WAD” put together by Dwight Agner (Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1977). The Typophile 2-vol chapbooks published shortly after his death are also a fine source.

Dorothy Abbe’s (she was his assistant in his last years) book called “Stencilled Ornament and Illustration” (Boston Public Library, 1980) is also chockablock full of great things, although in this case it’s his own delicious, home-made decorations rather than traditional metal flowers.

Most of you will know the Caravan ornaments that he did for Linotype, as well.

And yes, you are so right about the spine ornaments! Here’s just a few of his books gathered together, all letterforms done by hand.

A cold hard fact, Dwiggins is the shiznit when it comes to pushing fleurons and printer’s ornaments around. I maintain the stance that he would have flourished in the digital world and would have fully enjoyed pushing nodes around to create. Don’t you think Bruce?

I’m not saying he’d have stopped using traditional methods, I’m just saying he would’ve been even more prolific.

Agree enthusiastically. He was an innovator and a tool-maker, whenever he needed to do something and no good tool for it already existed. And he was “with” the machinery despite his being a romantic and ardent humanist in other ways — always trying to better understand how things worked so that his types could be manufactured well and then behave well on the linotype and on press. He’d have jumped right on board with digital tools.

Oh sweet Lord. Dwiggins was sooo good.

What books today have such presence?

Wish I had a self of ’em!

I admire Dwiggins - I think he had a touch of genius. Electra is amazing, and his M-formula stuff divine. I also love hybrid things, especially strange hybrid things, like mish-mashes of lines the circles. Nonetheless, to me his ornaments (did he call them something-broccoli, or maybe cauliflower-something?) are exceptionally ugly, out-of-this-world ugly. Every single time I see them I physically cringe. Sorry.

> Dwiggins was sooo good.

I think you wouldn’t like him as much if he wasn’t American.

hhp

Man, it’s like drinking from a fire hose . . .

Okay, so I should check out de Does, Rogers, Dwiggins, Morison, and the Monotype and Linotype specimen books, as well as some of the Lanston stuff. Others?

Bruce, btw, besides posting some great images, the second piece you put up is in fact along the lines of what I’m looking for (note again the Typotheque Jigsaw specimen poster example above).

Actually, apropos Lanston, they have links on the pages for the “Fleurons” fonts to .pdfs showing examples of the the ornaments in use along with the associated keystrokes—very helpful.

> using only ornaments to compose the entire picture

BTW this reminds of Trochut’s superfunky Super-Veloz stuff:
http://www.andreubalius.com/andreubalius/imatges/type/superveloz/superve... _
http://www.tdc.org/news/2005Results/Veloz.html _
Not that I like that either. :->

hhp

Hi Maurice.

The following comes from A Suite of Fleurons by John Ryder, Phoenix House, London 1956.

It’s a small (privately published?) index of eleven historically significant ornaments with ’how-to’ examples often placed on the facing page. I dunno where you might find a copy outside of the antiquarian booktrade or the university library interloans service. I picked up my copy for $10 – but then, I am Mr lucky-in-the-bookstore (!)

This material would be (as Tiffany says) the shiznit on a Flash-driven website... you could have the arabesques dancing all over the place.

Ben, it’s the shizzle as it is.

Maurice,

Here are a few more Fred-isms.

Bruce, thanks for posting all the samples. They look great.

This question/topic is going to cost me; I’ve been able to track some of the books mentioned here in our library’s system, and I found the ornamentation samples on Lanston’s site, but de Does’s Kaba-Ornament is nowhere to be found—so I wound up buying a copy from Nijhof and Lee’s in Amsterdam, on the strength of the small bits reproduced in Mathieu Lommen’s book. I’d be happy to return Bruce’s posting favors when it arrives.

Why couldn’t I have asked a question about something nice and cheap?

I’ll have to dig around and see if I can find them, but I vaguely remember some booklets that came with an old Mac software app called Bordermaker. I seem to remember buying it around the time I had a Mac IIcx, maybe early 90s? I think it was a plug-in for Illustrator 5, if my memory serves me correctly. Anyhow, it showed examples of how to combine Monotype’s digital Arabesque and Rococo ornaments in various ways. If I can put my hands on this printed literature I can either post some scans here or can send them privately to you, Maurice.

The fall 1940 issue of The Dolphin has an article entitled “Playing with Lead” that shows some ornamental arrangements, including this one:

Paul,

Wow! That is fabulous!! Who is “AS” — can you find a credit anywhere in T of C?

sorry, i guess i should have given credit above, but the A.S. is Albert Schiller.

I can’t imagine how they locked that job up on the press. They must have hand cut and jury-rigged some crazy stuff to get that to hold together long enough to pull a proof!

ChrisL

Score another for digital, I guess. But imagine what that would feel like on the page . . .

For any of you who may be unfamiliar with the handling of metal ornaments, here’s what a small unit of them looks like when assembled. This is about 4.5 x 2 inches (11 x 5 cm). This took me several hours of work. Unlike straight comp, you are always having to think in two dimenions at once, measure but also depth. And this is an easy one because everything is square (unlike the sailing ship, which is almost unimaginably complicated).

Nice.

> Unlike straight comp, you are always having to think in two dimenions at once

Is “straight comp” really unlike that?

hhp

Well, in my mind they are different. In normal composition, you have your stick set for a certain measure, and everything you throw in is the same height. You finish your line, add whatever horizontal spacing material you need for it come out full to the measure, then add whatever lead(s) you need, and begin the next line. You are thinking horizontally as you add those last bits of spacing material, so that the line is nice and tight to the measure.

In the case of ornaments, which may be coming from several different cases and be different point sizes, as you expand your line horizontally, all the inidvidual sorts must *also* attain the same vertical dimension. This is needed so that when the form is all locked up, you have as much squeeze pressure on the material vertically as you do horizontally.

That’s what I meant. (Maybe I wasn’t being clear, but for me it’s a more challenging situation, more brain focus needed at all times.)

Dwiggins is the shiznit

Now that is priceless. :) I actually went on an ornament hunt a couple of weeks ago in NYC. Found some nice ones in a rare book store.

But back on topic...Maurice brings up a good point that I would like to know as well, how do you lay them out properly in InDesign? Has anyone actually had any experience laying borders and such out in the digital realm?

Bruce, apropos your offer above (lost in the shuffle/flood, sorry): whatever you can share would be much appreciated. I’m a total beginner and eager to learn.

Bruce, makes sense.

hhp

As an admirer of ornaments and borders I’ve included a set with both fonts I’ve commercially released. I also try to make them as useful as possible.

Eason’s ornament system is especially useful. They are monospaced and divided up for easy layering (multi color use etc). Monospacing ensures perfect registration and you only have to adjust leading in ID to create wallpapers. I’m sure this has some limiting factors too, but I’ve found it useful. Stephen Coles did a great job with Eason’s ornaments in Sota’s Interrobang booklet.

When i’ve used other ornaments, I typically lay them out in illustrator, and import it as an EPS.

Randy: wow. Très cool. Are there specimens available? I don’t see any on Veer’s site.

For something more recent, Whirligigs. The specimen book is very nice — in which the ornaments, which are themselves created by rotating pieces of Emigre type, are made into fields by repetition.

Also, my own Fontesque Ornaments and Fontesque Ornaments Black.

I love ornaments, but it’s hard to work them in to a paying job. This was rather obvious, some stationery for a picture-framer, which I did in the early ’90s using Patricia Saunders’ Columbus Ornaments.

here’s some work by Gerald Giampa, Fleuronmaster™:

http://www.p22.com/lanston/Giampa/ENDPAPERS.html

Does anyone know where Gerald is currently moored?

Gerald Giampa and his boat both live in Deep Cove, North Vancouver.

He’s become a seldom/seen person, but you might get hold of him by phoning an antique store in Vancouver’s Gastown: Salmagundi West.

Jim

Nice link Paul – thanks for that.

Maurice, once you’ve assembled all the gorgeous reference and mastered the exacting technique, you may find yourself wondering (as I do) ’How does anyone find the time to do this stuff so beautifully?’

You want a life too?

“Is it much to demand
I want a full house and a rock and roll band
Pens that won’t run out of ink
And cool quiet and time to think

Shouldn’t I have this,
Shouldn’t I have this?
Shouldn’t I have all of this, and
Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa ohh oh
Passionate kisses from you”

—Lucinda Williams (lyric)

Ben, the question had occurred to me. I mean, I’ve been reading and posting here for a couple years and I haven’t even gotten round to creating a cool avatar for myself. :)

But around the holidays I get some more free time, and I got jealous this year of my sculptor/painter wife who can share her vocation (hence more of herself) with me and our families and friends when she gives presents. Funny thing: my friends and family never want copies of papers I’m working on or lectures I give in my political theory courses.

So, I thought it would be nice to find something among my avocations I could share—type—and ornamentation was what occurred to me first. I may not know nearly enough to do anything for people this holiday season, but I at least can carve out some time to start thinking about what I’d like ultimately to be able to do, and learning the skills I’d need to do it.

And I’m sure that you and others would correct me if I’m wrong, but the people who do ornamentation (as anything) really well, like Bruce and Gerald and Randy and Nick and others, don’t find the time, they make it. I’ll count myself lucky if I can ever do a tiny fraction of what the folks on these boards can do.

Agreed, Maurice – best of luck with it.

(Edit: There is also, to refer to your original question, Oliver Simon’s ’Introduction to Typography’, published in the 1940s and 50s by Penguin/Pelican in the UK and probably distributed by someone else in the US. This should be cheaper and easier to find than the other source I mentioned. A relevant page is below.)

”...and others, don’t find the time, they make it.”

I am about to make more time to devote to typography by retiring from my day job. As of June 1st, I will have unbound my shackles (and reduced my income).
I don’t plan to sail like my friend Gerald Giampa—unlessyou count the winds blowing through bezier curves :-)
Jim, if you see Gerald, send him my regards!

ChrisL