Mr. S. Leigh Sotheby, in his admirable "Principia typographica," Dr. Dibdin in his "Bibliotheca Spenceriana," and the Baron de Heinecken in his "Idée générale d'une Collection complète d'Estampes, &c.," give the best literary and graphic illustrations of the block books of the middle ages.
Our good fortune in possessing at the present time, and in common use, a remarkably clear and easily intelligible set of alphabets, was thus admirably noted in an article in the Times newspaper of December 28th, 1859:—
"Happily for us, the written symbols employed by the Romans, which are now the chief medium of expression for all the languages of Europe, America, Australia, and the greater part of civilized Africa, reflect exactly the rough and stalwart energy which made Rome to Europe what we are to the world. They have bestowed on us an alphabet as practically effective, and as suited to the capabilities of human vision, as any that could have been devised. This alphabet of ours is like an Englishman's dress—plain and manageable; not very artistically arranged, it may be, nor remarkable for copiousness or flow of outline, but sufficiently elastic and capable of extension. Its symbols have certainly no graceful curves like the picturesque Persian; but, better than all flourishes, each letter has plain, unmistakable features of its own. The vowels, which are to the rest of the alphabet what the breath, or rather life itself, is to the body, are assigned their legitimate position, and are formed to be written continuously with the consonants. Lastly, though scanty in itself, it is abundantly equipped with capital letters, stops, italics, and every appliance for securing rapid legibility, so that the eye can take in the subject of a page at a glance. Oriental alphabets are the very reverse of all this. They are complex, cumbersome, unmanageable." Much the same might have been said of many of the mediæval ones.
For excellent examples, see plates Technical Manual, Nos. [7] and [8]; and Historical Manual, Nos. [7] and [9].
The best are contained in the writings of De Quincy, Owen Jones, Winkellman, Pugin, and Sir Charles Eastlake.