Alphabets, Numerals and Devices of the Middle Ages

This extraordinary book on typography of the Middle Ages was printed in London in 1845, includes 25 plates, some of which are in colour.


Henry Shaw collected the plates from various sources, explaining in the introduction to the work: ‘The examples have been taken from Carvings in wood and stone, from Illuminations, from Monumental Brasses, and from early Prints, and printed Books; and shew, in their various treatment, the great skill with which the Artists applied similar forms to different materials in a manner calculated to produce the greatest effect.’


Henry Shaw (1800–73) was an antiquary and a draughtsman, who devoted his life to publishing a series of books on many aspects of medieval and Elizabethan art and architecture, and, in particular, the art of the illuminated manuscript. His varied publications include A Series of Details of Gothic Architecture (1829) and The History and Antiquities of the Chapel at Luton Park (1829). Shaw was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1833.