The next one is from an inscription of the early part of the fourteenth century (b).
A late fifteenth-century alphabet is given in (c), which is taken from an inscription in niello on a silver plaque fitted to a reliquary. This is Italian and is dated 1496.
Fig. 20.
The alphabets of capitals and minuscules shown in [Fig. 21] are of special interest to the illuminator. These are based on the writing used in a late fifteenth-century illuminated MS. now in the British Museum, St. Augustine’s “City of God” (Add. MS. 15246). These letters are formed with quite simple strokes of the pen. In this MS. the f-shaped minuscule s is used. In the alphabet given here this has been substituted by one more in keeping with the modern type of letter, and several letters have been added to make the alphabet complete. The student is strongly advised to study the lettering in this MS. for himself. It makes a very effective script if written fairly small with a crisply-cut pen.
Fig. 21.
Some further alphabets are shown in [Fig. 22]. The lettering from which the alphabet is taken that is shown in (a) is from a title-page from “Utopia et Mori et Erasmi Epigrammata,” dated 1518. It has woodcut borders and title-pages by Holbein. This style of letter is used throughout the book for headings, etc. It is undoubtedly a very fine type of letter and is worthy of careful study. As has been the case in the other alphabets, this alphabet has been completed by adding letters of approximate form to supply the missing ones.
