See also the complete Allerlei Zierat ornaments.

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The font here used is the Intellecta’s Frompac joined and art worked with the classical arabesques published in the Ludwig Petzendorfer’s Schriften-Atlas. Eine Sammlung der wichtigsten Schreib- und Druckschriften aus alter und neuer Zeit nebst Initialen, Monogrammen, Mappen, Landeskarten und heraldischen Motiven f¸r die praktischen Zwecke des Kunstgewerbes, 1889.

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As a unique example of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Victorian type, Zinc Italian emits a strikingly beautiful and twinkling luminescence. Oversized initial caps, each containing intricate swirls and curlycues, vibrate stunningly alongside a variety of amusing lowercase letters. Also known as Zinco, this typeface is generously equipped with a charming set of alternate characters including capital figures and some easier-to-decipher lowercase letters.

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One of the most successful new ornament fonts is CalligraphiaLatina. It is part of a trend that’s been quite popular lately: messed-up calligraphy. You can dirty up (or “deconstruct”) gracious classic-looking curves in many ways: using a variety of software filters; by superimposition; or even by hand. Brazilian designer Paulo W has his own method, possibly involving a scanner and some auto-tracing. The result works well when you want that worn-down grungy look, combining CalligraphiaLatina ornaments with the equally wobbly Liam.

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Here’s a wide, very light version of the widely known font P. T. Barnum (or French Clarendon, if you prefer). We have used this to good effect as secondary lines on old fashioned stationery.

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Relive the spirit of 19th century America in whimsical upbeat style with De Louisville tuscan. Echoing the Victorian craze for lavish decoration, De Louisville captures the antique flavor of a music parlor with refreshing cartoon ambiance. Cute, bubbly curves evoke strawberries & cream, a frothy head of beer, or the lace trimmings of a fine young lady’s skirt, in a light-hearted display face designed for contemporary use.

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This 19th century antique typeface comes in two different flavors. Tall, squarish ornate caps center-aligned on a flowery lowercase body comprise the exquisite and memorable Asteroid Primo One classic design. As perfect today for initials and short headlines as it was when it was created.

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Ornata G is the seventh of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion.

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Fleurons are embellishments and this is my first fleurons font.

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Fleurons are embellishments and here is my fifth set.

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Ornata A is the first of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion.

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Ornata B is the second of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion.

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Ornata C is the third of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion.

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Fleurons are embellishments and this is my sixth and so far most beautiful round.

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Ornata D is the fourth of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion. I am completely redesigning the ornaments from scratch, trying in this one to keep the rough “letterpress” character.

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Ornata E is the fifth of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion. I am completely redesigning the ornaments from scratch, trying in this one to keep the rough “letterpress” character.

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Fleurons are embellishments and here is my seventh set.

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Ornata F is the sixth of a series of old ornaments that I am trying to save from oblivion. I am completely redesigning the ornaments from scratch. These ornaments have been designed around 1910, I could not find out by whom.

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These are the classical arabesques published in Ludwig Petzendorfer’s Schriften-Atlas. Eine Sammlung der wichtigsten Schreib- und Druckschriften aus alter und neuer Zeit nebst Initialen, Monogrammen, Mappen, Landeskarten und heraldischen Motiven fur die praktischen Zwecke des Kunstgewerbes, 1889. See Frompac 1889 Arabesques for another example of these arabesques.

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Museum Borders and Ornaments is part of a typographical treasure, the Norstedts type collection in Sweden. Type designer Torbjörn Olsson has painstakingly translated the original 34 Ornament matrices in the collection to Open Type. Among them are several of Granjon’s arabesques, as well as symbols from both Swedish and Danish typefoundries. The signs were cut in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The old Swedish name for these “type trademarks” were "rössjor".

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Scotch Modern is a revival of the typeface used in the book New York State Cabinet of Natural History.

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This font is a collection made with the largest part of the ornaments contained in the GLC foundry medieval and renaissance period fonts. It was made for the use of customers who wish to embellish their works without buying our complete catalog!

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This is based on a mid-Victorian Connor’s foundry font originally known as Manhattan.

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This addition to the Whiz-Bang Woodtype series in based on a 100+ year-old typeface originally named Medallic.

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An ultra light thins all caps Victorian design with a slight stroke contrast. Elongated Roman requires subjective display kerning and compensation.

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A popular caps-only type of late Victorian times was called Mural, brought out by Boston Type Foundry in 1890. We always liked it, drew a lowercase for it, and then strengthened it by adding a bit of weight.

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This was a favorite of job printers in late Victorian times. They used it on cards and stationery, as well as small handbills. It was made in a range of sizes from 10 point to 36 point.

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This began life as a European font that was copied in the United States by Bruce’s Type Foundry in 1885.

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Charles Beeler Jr. designed this in 1895 for Mackellar, Smiths and Jordan, which was part of the American Type Founders combine.

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A single line of type, identified as Ornamented No. 5 and spelling out ROPE ONIONS, from the 1888 MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan specimen book provided the pattern for this whimsical face.

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Kilkenny is a decorative, Victorian-style font based on the metal type named Nymphic that was designed by Hermann Ihlenberg. Ihlenburg was born in Germany in 1843 where he studied art and worked for several German type foundries. He emigrated to the USA in 1866 and worked for the L. Johnson & Co. foundry, later MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. American Type Founders acquired this typeface when they took over the MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan foundry and Nymphic appears in the ATF catalog of 1896.

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P22 Zaner is based on ornamental penmanship as taught by Charles Paxton Zaner at his art college at the turn of the 20th century.

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P22 Allyson is based on an old metal font by Barnhart Bros. & Spindler named Hazel Script.

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Country Western is a revival of the classic William Page font known as Clarendon Ornamented originally designed in 1859 and again in 1877 by Vanderburgh & Wells.

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This graceful charmer is based on a Victorian-era typeface called “Romanesque”.

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Font inspired from the decorative elements and opening capitals frequently in use in the beginning of 1500s, under Geoffroy Tory’s book “Champfleury” influence, this, especially in Lyon (France). It is an entirely original design.

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This font has been on the range so long it smells like chipotle chilis, cracked leather and 5-card stud.

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This font was inspired by the title logo of the TV show The Wild Wild West (season two). The font was named after the train in the TV show. Wanderer is a combination of my Classic Tuscan Rodeo Clown font and a Robust Slab Serif font.

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Insigne Fleurons offers a wide range of diverse text ornaments to enhance your designs. These 52 ornaments can be used as components of a logo, background patterns or elements, border patterns or to add flourishes and refinement to your designs.

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The inspiration source for Noir Monogram is the “Pearl” letterset from the 1854 Becker’s Ornamental Penmanship and Draughtsman’s Letter Book by George J. Becker. The original design was a highly ornate steelplate engraving which was simplified to a solid letterstyle with minimal detailings.

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The source of inspiration for Manoir Monogram is a distinguishingly narrow Victorian initial letterset adorned with flourishes from a vintage embroidery publication. This digital revival splits the letterset from its flourished background to give you more design flexibility. Manoir is a highly ornate typestyle with a lot of elegance and flair.

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This font was inspired by the lettering on a shop sign along a very classy shopping street in Bordeaux, France.

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This beautiful old design was originated at the Connor Foundry, New York, about 1888.

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Cactus majestically blooming in the desert is truly a wondrous event! As the landscape cools, nature blossoms into a beautiful rainbow of colors. These same harmonies and contours, plus a dash of ruggedness and legibility, help to make Cactus Flower Open a superb choice for display work. This cowboy boot style is an old Speedball favorite originated by lettering artist Ross F. George. It’s especially useful for creating distinctive headlines and titles where a Tuscan look is desired.

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Based on a typeface originally called Seven Flare, this offering has a warm, slightly naive grace and a casual nostalgic charm. In addition, kerning has been applied to all possible letter combinations, so that you can mix the upper and lowercase letters in any combination you please.

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Railhead is a revival of an 1870s type style that was originally available from both the Bruce foundry in New York and James Conner’s Sons type foundry.

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Black Pearl is a revival of a middle 1800s ornate calligraphic font possibly created between 1850 and 1870, I spent two years looking for all the letters of this font, once I found them all I immediately went to work on recreating this old classic. I was not able to find any numbers for this font so new to this style are numbers, some punctuation and currency symbols. The Truetype and OpenType formats include an extended character set with Central and Eastern European accented letters.

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The Fleurons of Paris were inspired by an iron gate, an iron railing, a Metro tile, a Metro stop, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, a rainy afternoon, a glass of wine, an outdoor cafe and the list goes on and on.

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Spanish Main is a revival of an old MacKeller Smiths & Jordan font named Sloping Black. Like most foundries MacKeller Smiths & Jordan doesn't display all the letters of the fonts in their specimen books so it took a little more time to find the complete character set for this old beautiful classic font.

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Black Rose is the plain version of an old Bruce Type Foundry font called “Black Ornamented” created in 1873.

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Pullman is based on turn-of-the-century lettering reminiscent of the signage on some luxury Pullman-style train cars of that period.

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A super-bold Victorian period display face.

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I am a huge Moleskine notebook fan - This font is named Diario to celebrate everyone that uses a journal and everyone that appreciates a cool handwriting style.

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Blooming Ornaments was inspired by patterns of the Middle Ages. There is an assortment of 47 ornaments located under the character set keys.

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Ornamental Treasures is a very special series of font families never before released.

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Of the many nineteenth-century wood type designs, the most popular seem to be variations of the Antique Tuscan style, which featured scalloped contours and upturned, pointed serifs. Designers of wood type found the Tuscan style to be ideal for embellishment, shading, and decoration.

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A lovely decorative Victorian period font taken directly from samples printed on an old press right from the metal type in the collection of typophile Steve Saxe.

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Edison Swirl, with its terminals majestically looping and twirling in a circular fashion, quickly takes us back to the Victorian era of type. This unusual fancy face, which dates back to the early 1900s, distinguishes itself by employing splayed M & N caps. Some letterforms also contain double cross-strokes for added interest.

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This unusual display face is another in a series of works based on the work of lettering artist Samuel Welo. The sinewy curves and radiant inline decoration give this typeface a cozy, warm and inviting charm. Named after the informal radio addresses popularized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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The ornamented and magnificent type design used with the color plates of Owen Jones' “The Grammar of Ornament” has served as a model for this nineteenth century typeface. Astoria Antique possesses an intricate and spidery-like quality. Its v-shaped wedge endings make it look like something straight out of an old curiosity shop. In addition, lowercase letters have been added for design convenience.

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Like a bright star shimmering on a still and quiet summer night, Arched Gothic Condensed is a glowing example of Victorian type. Thin in the middle with clumpy wedges on top and bottom, it truly bears the spirit of a bygone era.

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Originally, this 1870s wood type font was called Armenian. We came across a showing of alphabet at the South Street Seaport in New York, bought it and immediately drew the additional characters needed to make the font.

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The Fredrick Ullmer Co. in London acted as agent for many typefoundries, and this was one of their offerings. Some of the letters were rather outlandish, so we fearless decided to improve them. The result is this dated but pleasant font.

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