Alphabet Patterns

This beautiful alphabet specimen is a fine example of the sort of decorative letterforms familiar to many needlework specialists. Over 100 illustrated alphabets and monograms were traced and possibly gathered from printed source material, and then assembled into this bound volume sometime between 1860 and 70. It very likely may have originated in Germany, since a newspaper clipping from Der Bazar—dated March, 20th, precisely 143 years ago today—is glued to the fly-leaf of the book. This one-of-a-kind book is happily shared as a full download here. I've taken the liberty to color correct and display a number of my favorite alphabet examples for a sneak preview. 

Fans of Monograms

With the proliferation of monogram and crest collecting in the late 19th century, printing companies in England soon realized there was a large market for reproducing these fancy intertwined initials and colorful heraldic crowns. The engraved examples on letterheads and personal stationery were also prized among well-to-do collectors who had a lot of leisure time evidently. This growing trend soon spread across Europe beginning in the late 1860s and later spread to the United States where collectors began decorating silk cloth or lacquered wood imported from Japan with these colorful paper scraps. These fine examples of decorated fans are from this German site dedicated to the collection of fancy fans. Not content with the rich monogram detail on the fans here, this collector added a pointillist flourish of tiny little dots around each monogram as you can see below in greater detail. 

 

NickHeywood writes in lighthearted fashion on NickHaus about his least manly possession: this monogrammed Victorian silk fan found at a flea market.

Decorated fans have a fascinating attraction and historic place in the archives of communication. You can read more about fanology in this past post.

Monogram Collecting

Napolean III, was emperor of France from 1852 to 1870, and the nephew of Napolean Bonaparte, the first emperor of France from 1804 to 1815. This role earned him some very handsome stationery with a personal monogram of just the N. Or maybe he inherited this from his uncle. In either case, these two examples above are quite lovely. They were both found recently at Le Petit Musee de Lou, along with all the many others seen below. All were originally part of a much larger personal monogram collection which was likely assembled inside a scrapbook—a very popular pastime in Victorian times. These were sold individually and are no longer available unfortunately. You can look, but you cannot touch ;( 

The Alphabet of Monograms

The Alphabet of Monograms, by Henry Lillie. The only time I've ever seen this book, is in my dreams. It was first published with this ornate gold stamped cover by Day & Son of London in 1865, and has a title page which is equally exquisite. The book contained 26 numbered plates of engraved monograms, and a fold-out index table of lettering combinations with cooresponding page numbers. The word monogram originally signified several interwoven letters blended together into a pleasing design. Lillie designed this book to satisfy the work of the engraver, the embroiderer, and the carver.

::Cover design from State Library of Massachusetts Flickrstream. Interior pages via Live Auction and the Graphic Design Project.