Typography Tuesday: Decorative Borders and Initial Fragments!
Last week we presented some typographical “poetry” found in the type specimen book Specimens of Printing Types and Ornaments Cast by James Conner & Son, printed in New York by William L. S. Harrison for James Conner & Son in 1852. Along with letter forms, decorative rules, borders, dingbats, fleurons, arabesques, and other ornamental flourishes have long been a traditional part of the type display book. This week we present a few pages and details of decorative borders and ornamental type fragments that were also offered by Conner & Son.
In their introductory statement, the type foundry notes that with this publication they:
. . . issue a New and Enlarged Edition of our Specimens, embodying the latest novelties . . . . To our assortment of Ornamental Type and Bordering, we have made several additions -- both chaste and elegant in their design. . . . this series has been cut by the best letter cutter in Edinburgh, exclusively for our Foundry, and can not, of course, be had elsewhere.
View other type specimen books.
View our other Typography Tuesday posts.
