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From the Preface. THE alphabet is so closely linked up with our everyday life, that its very familiarity causes it to be, in a measure, overlooked and neglected as a serious study. With the exception of the very partial revival of 1845-55, from which the names of the younger Pugin and Owen Jones are inseparable, our designers have been content, until quite recently, with letters whose only characteristic was their uninspired conventionality. The chief textbooks at all generally used have been those published by Henry Shaw (1845), Delamotte (1864, 2nd edit.), and Messrs. Newbery and Alexander. The author has had exceptional opportunities of observing the extent to which these have been drawn on, as well as the directions in which they failed to satisfy the requirements of their audience. When the subject was suggested as one which might well be included in the - Ex-Libris- series, it was at once apparent that a treatment might be planned to appeal not only to book-lovers, but also to a large clientele of artists and craftsmen, who desired, not so much an assortment of the curiosities of lettering, as a practical handbook which should give them both accurate historical information and references for further study, with especial consideration for the technical qualities of the alphabets figured, and their suitability to various materials and uses. This dual purpose has been steadily kept in view throughout the present volume; perhaps, it must be said, with some leaning to the practical side. It is not pretended that this book is, in any sense, a manual of paleography. Such historical notes as were necessary to insure a proper consideration of the examples given, with due regard to the circumstances under which their originals existed, have been compiled with care from good authorities. But it has been felt that this side of the question belonged more properly to those scientists and archaeologists whose splendid results are already, in one form or another, before the world; and that for the audience to whom we appeal, it were better to treat the subject from the standpoint of beauty and utility, rather than that of historical value or antiquarian research....

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