LITTLE BOOK OF TYPOGRAPHIC ORNAMENT

Sourced from specimen books dating from around 1700 onwards, this exquisite collection of ornamentation used by printers covers a range from the mid-16th century to the 21st. The simplest kinds of ornamentation are lines and borders, but these can often be broken up with decorative units known as "flowers", whose origins lie in the culture of the east, particularly the work of Arabian craftsmen who established workshops in Italy. Renaissance classicism gave way to Baroque exuberance, and then in the 19th century an invention known as "stereotyping" enabled images to be reproduced very cheaply, leading to an explosion of ornament with realistic details such as trains and animals. The sections of this book represent different types of ornament. Natural Forms includes the stylised running tulip motifs Art Nouveau, as well as classical acanthus leaves and stylised Rococo floral swags. Geometrical Forms are particularly associated with the Modernist movement and include the running squares and triangles designed by Paul Nash for the Curwen Press in the 1930s and a Bauhaus logo designed by Moholy-Nagy in 1923. In the early 20th century Ravilious, Bawden, Freedman and Nash, all working for the Curwen Press, developed an iconic modern range that respected traditional motifs. The section on Wreaths and Scrolls introduces the mass-production of stereotyping seen at its most successful with motifs such as a paddle steamer, a billiard table, a range of comic faces, a windmill and a man smoking a cigar. A final section on "ingenious art" starts with the influence of designers in the Art Deco period and moves on to the modern digital age. 240pp, over 700 illustrations in monochrome and pink.