Book excerpt: In the mid-19th century, typefounders plied their trade with an extraordinary exuberance, creating a new and dazzling range of typefaces and ornamentation that in sheer versatility, ornate beauty, and sumptuousness remain unsurpassed. Today, as never before, their work is sought by artists, designers, and craftspeople for its elegance, expressiveness, and ability to command attention. This unique volume contains the work of one of the most celebrated typefounders of that glorious era in type design: Charles Derriey, who, from his Parisian foundry, fed the Victorians' insatiable appetite for decoration and embellishment with a truly fabulous assortment of display types and printers' ornaments. The 113 plates reprinted here from his 1862 typographic catalog include over 2,500 royalty-free type forms and ornamental designs. Here is an incredibly rich source of intricately ornamented typefaces along with an eye-catching array of vignettes (dingbats, headpieces, tailpieces, etc.), rules, flourishes, corner elements, and much more, including a wide selection of Victorian frames and border material. Leaf through it and you will find it to be not only a fascinating presentation of type design, but also an extensive sampler of Victorian ornamentation — a valuable reference book and source of royalty-free graphics, sturdily yet inexpensively produced, that will offer you years of inspiration, enjoyment, and practical use.