#floriated initials

floriated initials

from a cistercian processional, produced in the cistercian nunnery günterstal abbey, c. 1600

Typography Tuesday

In 1934, nine years after establishing his own Seven Acres Press in England, American letterpress printer, poet, and educator Loyd Haberly (1896-1981) became the controller for the great Welsh fine-press publisher Gregynog Press. He remained there until 1937 when he returned to America to teach at the college level and continue his own fine press work.

In 1936, his last year at Gregynog, Haberly wood-engraved six floriated initials, purportedly designed by the notable British calligrapher Graily Hewitt, for a Gregynog edition of Xenophon’s Cyrupaedia: The Institution and Life of Cyrus, the First of that Name, King of Persians, the first time Philemon Holland’s English translation had been reprinted since 1632.The initials for the edition were hand-colored in red and green, as seen in the sample page above taken from a Bonhams advertisement for a copy of the book.

In 1984, the revived Gwasg Gregynog reprinted all six engravings in this small commemorative keepsake entitled Floriated Initials, with a brief text in Monotype Baskerville on handmade paper from Wookey Hole Mill. Our copy is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

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Typography Tuesday

Shown here are some examples woodcut floriated initials used by notable sixteenth-century Antwerp printer Christophe Plantin from Series 4 and 7 in the ornamental initials collection at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. These examples come from Ornamental Initials,The Woodcut Initials of Christopher Plantin by the American type designer and stonecutter Stephen Harvard, published in 1974 by the American Friends of the Plantin-Moretus Museum in New York, and printed at the Stinehour Press with design and lettering by Stephen Harvard. The catalogue assembles, for the first time since the 16th century, the entire collection of decorative initials that Christophe Plantin acquired. Fifty-eight different series of initials are reproduced in their original size in the catalogue.

The initials shown here were cut by Gerard Van Kampen who cut a number of large initials for Plantin, mainly for music printing. Most of the initials above are from Series 4, which were probably cut in 1567. The first two images show the original block and the letter A printed from it. The last two letters, C and E, are from Series 7, cut by Van Kampen around 1578.

Our copy is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

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Typography Tuesday

PLANTIN’S HEBREW AND GREEK ORNAMENTAL TYPE

The very-notable sixteenth-century Antwerp printer Christophe Plantin amassed an enormous collection of wood-cut ornamental initials for his many book projects, but when he embarked on the most ambitious project of his career, a multi-volume, folio-sized polyglot Bible for the king of Spain, he needed to have Hebrew and Greek initials cut for those languages. The floriated Hebrew and Greek initials shown here were designed for Plantin by French painter and draughtsman Geoffroy Ballain. The Hebrew font was cut by Cornelis Muller, from the noted family of Dutch engravers, and the Greek by the Flemish woodcut artist Arnold Nicolai.

These initials are from series 13 and 14 in the ornamental initials collection at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, and are drawn form the collection’s complete catalogue, Ornamental Initials, The Woodcut Initials of Christopher Plantin by the American type designer and stonecutter Stephen Harvard, published in 1974 by the American Friends of the Plantin-Moretus Museum in New York, and printed at the Stinehour Press with design and lettering by Stephen Harvard. The catalogue assembles, for the first time since the 16th century, the entire collection of decorative initials that Christophe Plantin acquired. Fifty-eight different series of initials are reproduced in their original size in the catalogue..

Our copy is another gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

View other posts from Ornemental Initials.