![\"larousse1.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse1.jpg\")
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It’s no doubt true to say that they don’t make them like this any more, but it’s also likely that they didn’t make many of them like this in 1866 when the first volume of Pierre Larousse’s Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe si\u00e8cle<\/em> was published. Despite the title this is a 15-volume encyclopedia, each volume of which opens with a spread showing the initial letters of the section that follows. The illustrations fill most of each page, the left-hand side displaying the section initial in letterforms or typefaces from different ages, while the right-hand side embellishes a huge decorated letter with objects or scenes sharing the same initial. These are all in French, of course, so a pig (cochon<\/em>) sits under the letter C. Illustrated alphabets are an old idea, and still a very common one since they make good teaching aids. Seeing these elaborate examples makes me wonder how far back the idea can be traced.<\/p>\n These pictures are from an incomplete set of the books<\/a> at the Internet Archive. A more complete set can be found via this Wikipedia page<\/a> but the scans linked to there are all bitmap images which have lost much of their detail.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elsewhere on { feuilleton } Previously on { feuilleton } It’s no doubt true to say that they don’t make them like this any more, but it’s also likely that they didn’t make many of them like this in 1866 when the first volume of Pierre Larousse’s Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe si\u00e8cle was published. Despite the title this is a 15-volume encyclopedia, each volume … Continue reading “Grand capitals”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[42,10],"tags":[5666],"class_list":["post-14796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-typography","tag-pierre-larousse"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-3QE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"larousse2.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"larousse3.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"larousse4.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"larousse5.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"larousse6.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/larousse6.jpg\")
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\n\u2022 The etching and engraving archive<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Costume capitals<\/a>
\n\u2022 Paulini\u2019s mythological alphabet<\/a>
\n\u2022 Joseph Balthazar Silvestre\u2019s Alphabet-album<\/a>
\n\u2022 Johann Theodor de Bry\u2019s Neiw Kunstliches Alphabet<\/a>
\n\u2022 The Book of Ornamental Alphabets<\/a>
\n\u2022 Paul Franck\u2019s calligraphy<\/a>
\n\u2022 Gramato-graphices<\/a>
\n\u2022 John Bickham\u2019s Fables and other short poems<\/a>
\n\u2022 Letters and Lettering<\/a>
\n\u2022 Studies in Pen Art<\/a>
\n\u2022 Flourishes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"