Early pictographic tablet

Sumerian (c. 3100 BCE)

Blau monument

Sumerian (c. 3100 BCE)

Detail from the Book of the Dead of Tuthmosis III

on papyrus

New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1450 BCE)

Ras Shamra script

example of a North Semitic alphabet (c. 1500 BCE)

The Persians

papyrus manuscript

with Greek alphabet (4th century BCE)

Capitalis quadrata (square capitals)

Roman script (c. 400 CE)

Capitalis rustica (rustic capitals)

Roman script (c. 400 CE)

Inscription from four-handled vessel

bronze script (chin-when)

Chinese (11th century BCE)

Chen-shu (regular script)

Chinese

The Diamond Sutra

with woodcut illustration

Chinese (c. 868 CE)

Playing cards

woodblock printing

Chinese (n.d.)

Death of Laocoon

from the Vatican Vergil

Classical style (early 5th century CE)

Symbol of Matthew

from the Book of Durrow

Celtic style (680 CE)

Opening page from Gospel of St. Mark

Book of Durrow

Celtic style (680 CE)

Carpet page with interface

from the Lindisfarne Gospels

Celtic style (c. 698 CE)

Text page with ornamental initials

Book of Kells

Celtic style (c. 794-806 CE)

Caroline miniscules

Carolingian style (9th century CE)

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

from the Beatus of Fernando and Sancha

Spanish Medieval style (1047 CE)

The multitude worshipping God

from the Douce Apocalypse

Gothic style (1265)

Mustafa al-Khalil

frontispiece from a Qu'ran

Islamic (1739)

Limbourg Brothers

January page from Les tres riches heures de duc de Berry

Early Renaissance (1413-16 CE)

Jack of Diamonds

playing card

woodblock print (c. 1400)

St. Christopher

devotional image

woodblock print (1423)

Pages from an ars morendi

woodblock print

block book (1466)

Gutenberg

Letter of Indulgence

movable type (c. 1454)

Gutenberg

pages from the Gutenberg Bible

movable type (1450-55)

Fust and Schoeffler

colophon and trademark from Psalter in Latin

movable type (1457)

Ex libris (bookplate) design

for Johannes Knabensberg

woodcut (c. 1450s)

Pfister

woodblock illustration

from second edition of Der Ackerman aus Bohmen (c. 1463)

Reuwich

woodblock illustration

from Peregrinationes in Montem Syon (1486)

Pages from Teuerdank

designed by Rockner

printed by Schoensperger (1517)

Durer

broadside

woodcut illustration (1515)

Cranach the Younger

broadside commemmorating Martin Luther

woodcut illustration (1551)

Caxton

printer's trademark

woodcut (after 1477)

Jenson (attrib.)

mark for the Society of Venetian Printers

Italian Renaissance (1481)

Manutius

typographic page from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Italian Renaissance (1499)

Manutius

page from Opera

Italian Renaissance (1501)

Tory

pot casse emblem

French Renaissance (1524)

Estienne

page from Illustrissimae Galliaru Reginae Helianorae

French Renaissance (1531)

Oporinus

page from De Humani Corporis Fabrica

from Basel (1543)

Granjon

title page from Le premier livre des narrations fabuleuses

from Lyons (1558)

Caslon

specimens of Caslon roman and italic

from London (1734)

Playfair

diagram from Commercial and Political Atlas

handcolored engraving (British, 1786)

Blake

title page from Songs of Innocence

hand-colored etching (British, 1789)

Blake

The Tyger from Songs of Experience

hand-colored etching (British, 1794)

Thorne

fat-face types (British, 1821)

Thorne

Egyptian type designs (British, 1821)

Caslon IV

two-line English Egyptian (British, 1816)

Figgins

two-line Great Primer Sans-serif (British, 1832) 

Niepce

Cardinal Georges D'Amboise

photoetching (French, c. 1827)

Talbot

pages from The Pencil of Nature

with photographic illustrations (French, 1844)

Bufford's Sons

Swedish Song Quartett poster

chromolithography (American, 1867)

Frizzall (artist) and Bufford's Sons (printers)

poster for Cleveland and Hendricks presidential campaign

chromolithography  (American, 1884)

Forst

Averell & Co.

poster for the Hoe printing press

chromolithography (American, 1870)

Food and tobacco products

package designs

chromolithography on tin (19th century)

Morse

Five Celebrated Clowns

multicolor woodcut poster (American, 1856)

Philipon

Les Poires (The Pears)

lithograph (French, 1831)

Daumier

Gargantua

lithograph (French, 1831)

Daumier

Waitress, I Prefer the Vegetables Clean-Shaven

lithograph (French, 1840)

Guerard

Puppet Theatre, Champs-Elysees

chromolithograph (French, 1856)

Tietze

poster for Harper's Magazine

woodcut (American, 1883)

Homer

The Army of the Potomac - Sharpshooter on Picket Duty

wood engraving (American, 1862)

Nast

political cartoon for Harper's Weekly

woodcut (American, 1871)

Cover

Harper's Bazar

woodcut (American, 1868) 

Jones

color plates from The Grammar of Ornament

Victorian era (British, 1856)

Trademark

Moss Engraving Company

Victorian style (1872)

Crane

pages from Absurd A.B.C.

toy book (British, 1874)

Caldecott

illustration

from Hey Diddle Diddle

(British, c. 1880)