Kleines Spiel mit Ornamenten (Max Caflisch)

Of the multitude of typographic ornaments, only six are shown in this book by Max Caflisch. These are pieces of ornament which, when put together, form the shape of an arabesque and which were created four hundred years ago. The creator of these pearls among typographic ornaments can unfortunately no longer be determined with certainty. It is probably the Frenchman Robert Granjon (around 1513 to around 1590), one of the best type cutters in Europe during that vibrant, humanistic era. With a speed that was astonishing for the time, this new form of typographic decoration found its way into the leading printing houses of various countries and was imitated by skilled woodcutters and type founders. But we digress and you didn’t come here for a history lesson. The remarkable thing about this book is that Caflisch made a variety of unique arrangements with just six shapes and then he followed that with examples of how they can be put to practical use. Only Bram de Does did it better.