(x) Fleuron/Ornament - Lyonnaise Arabesque {Gillian}
Hello,
Has anyone posted something on dingbats before? I need some help identifying this dingbat. Do dingbats technically count as typography? Anyway, your help would very much be appreciated, thank you in advanced. Also, if this is in the wrong forum, I apologize, please feel free to move.
16.Dec.2009 10.41am
Hello! I have this. It's metal though and since I acquired it second(or third?)-hand I have no idea what it's called. It unfortunately doesn't have any convenient identifying marks; I looked through a couple of specimen books and the closest thing I found was "Old English No. 13" in an ATF book from 1912. It's similar but not the same.
I did find some crazy judgmental manicule people in another book, though. Completely off topic, but I think they're pretty great!
16.Dec.2009 12.32pm
There are typeface which have their ornaments (either in the font or a separate one) and other that are comprised only of ornaments, often called "fleurons".
http://new.myfonts.com/search/ornaments/fonts/
http://new.myfonts.com/search/fleurons/fonts/
Maybe you can search for "frames" too
http://new.myfonts.com/search/frames/fonts/
16.Dec.2009 1.07pm
Aha! One Paul Ritcher of Devil's Tail Press found it! Posting on Briar Press he says:
"Typographer John Ryder in his book ‘A Suite of Fleurons’ dubbed it a Lyonnaise Arabesque. Originating from the Lyon printing office of Guillaume Rouille in about the year 1570, it may have been cut by Rouille or Pierre Roussin, assisted by Salomon or Robert Granjon. It was recut and cast in multiple sizes as Monotype 219. Francis Meynell and Stanley Morison in their essay “Printers’ Flowers and Arabesques’ published in The Fleuron, give the lineage: Michael Jouve and Pierre Roussin, 1551-1580; Jean Pillehote, 1580-1600; Lamesle, 1742; Delacolonge, 1773; Ploos van Amstel, 1796 and Imprenta Real, 1799."
So there!
As for Digitization here's a sort of rough interpretation.
16.Dec.2009 1.21pm
Those fist-head characters are nutty!