New Font: BigBlok
A great many years ago when working in game publishing I had a real fascination with doing titles in a strong, super-bold font called Bolt Bold. The truth is I rather overused it. In doing some research I find it on more than a dozen different game books I wrote in the early 80s, all quite collectable and out of print today.
Celtic Font and Art Collections
he Celts have been acclaimed for their remarkable artistic legacy – far more substantial than that of other ancient societies of Western Europe. They left behind a fascinating tradition of visual and literary art,and can be credited with the preservation of culture and literacy in Western Europe after the fall of Rome. Their imprint is strongest in the British Isles which were spared much of the chaos and cultural collapse of the so-called Dark Ages.
The Celts produced exceptional hand-decorated books and works of calligraphy. Among the most famous products of Celtic scriptoria are the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels, all of which have been used as sources in our celtic designs. The various forms of Celtic Uncial calligraphy preserved sophisticated writing techniques so that they could be reintroduced to Europe at the time of Charlemagne, leading to a reawakening of writing and literature.
Today, Celtic culture remains a powerful source of inspiration in music, art and design. Musicians like Clannad, The Chieftains and Lorena McKennit preserve traditional Celtic music and adapt it to modern sensibilities, while Celtic visual art influences show up in every medium and continue to shape the work of contemporary designers.
The Scriptorium’s Celtic Collection is a remarkable digital archive of the design arts of the Celtic world. The collection features several CDs focusing on different aspects of the Celtic tradition in art and design. Celtic decroative designs, mythological art, religious symbolism and calligraphic lettering are preserved as high resolution (300dpi or more) graphics and unique original fonts (Postscript and TrueType) so that you can incorporate the vision of the Celts in your designs. All CDs are both MacOS and Windows compatible. All of the packages are kept in stock and can be ordered by phone from 1-512-656-8011 or ONLINE (<--Click Here) with an immediate download.
See the descriptions below for details on our Celtic packages and some samples of the fonts and graphics which are included.
ur Celtic Vision package is our oldest and most basic collection of Celtic resources. It is oriented towards historical and traditional Celtic design, featuring fonts based on historical calligraphy, plus borders, emblems and decorative elements which are primarily geometrical and in the tradition of Celtic knotwork design. It is a great starting point for any Celtic design project. This is our original Celtic collection and is now in its fourth release, with many modifications and improvements over earlier versions.
The frames, borders and emblems in the Celtic Vision package come from a number of sources, including ancient Celtic manuscripts, Victorian renderings of classic Celtic designs, and original Celtic designs by Arts & Crafts period artists like Evelyn Paul and Louis Rhead. The Rhead and Paul borders are particularly interesting, because they effectively adapt medieval Celtic imagery to formats and page sizes which are still used today. Many of the graphics included in this package are color renderings of traditional designs. The package also includes some lovely Celtic initials by Louis Rhead.
Eight fonts are included in the Celtic Vision package. They were selected for their historical accuracy and general usefulness, while more bizarre fonts were reserved for the Celtic Fantasy package. The fonts include the Durrow font, which is an absolutely traditional rendering of Insular Minuscule calligraphy, Glendower which is based on the most common lettering in the Book of Kells, Knotwork which features fanciful characters decorated with Celtic knots, Alba which is a modernized text font based on Celtic uncial lettering, Lindisfarne which is based on a square uncial style, Stonecross which is derived from Celtic cross and gravestone inscriptions, the decorative Celtic Spirals font, and the Celtic Borders font which lets you combine key strokes to form unique, fully scalable decorative borders.
The Celtic Vision package is where you should start your journey into Celtic design. All of the images are high-resolution (300dpi) and suitable for printing, and they are licensed to you for use in your design projects. The fonts come in both Postscript and TrueType formats. The CD is fully compatible with the MacOS and all versions of Windows. The Celtic Vision CD is only $49 and can be ordered by phone from 1-512-656-8011 or ONLINE (<--Click Here). It can also be ordered in combination with our other Celtic packages at a special discount (see below).
ur Celtic Fantasy package is the newest addition to our collection of Celtic resources. It is oriented towards more fanciful approaches to Celtic design and to Celtic mythology and fairy tales. It features fonts derived from the Celtic design tradition, but with unusual variations, and a great set of borders and decorations based on designs by Arthur Rackham. It also includes a selection of illustrations of Celtic mythology by several artists. It balances out the more practical contents of the Celtic Vision package with an assortment of more imaginative and unusual resources.
The frames, borders and emblems in the Celtic Vision package are mostly drawn from Arthur Rackham’s illustrated collections of Irish and British folk and fairy tales. They include both color and black and white borders, frames and
emblems, including many unique floral and zoomorphic designs. The package also includes a selection of color and black and white illustrations of scenes and characters from Celtic myth and legend by artists like Rackham and J. D. Batten who illustrated Joseph Jacobs classic Celtic mythology books. The Rackham illustrations are of exceptional quality and incorporate beautiful Celtic design elements which can easily be extracted and used in your own designs.
Eight fonts are included in the Celtic Fantasy package. They were selected for their Celtic qualities and visual originality, while more mundane fonts were reserved for the Celtic Vision package. Many of them are historical, but they are based on the more fanciful historical lettering styles. The fonts include Brigidis, which is based on Rudolph Koch’s interpretation of a squared uncial, Coverack, which is a heavy non-traditional uncial, Dahaut which is an modernized uncial, Morgow which is a nice spiral uncial, Teyrnon which is an elaborate spurred uncial, Padstow which is a heavy uncial with a Gallic influence, Sualtim which is based on 19th century artists rendering of Celtic lettering and Columba which is a set of decorative initials
based on characters fount in the Book of Kells. These fonts let you take Celtic design a step beyond to add some real visual impact.
The Celtic Fantasy package is a great resource for fanciful Celtic design, either on its own or in combination with the Celtic Vision package. All of the images are high-resolution (300dpi) and suitable for printing, and they are licensed to you for use in your design projects. The fonts come in both Postscript and TrueType formats. The CD is fully compatible with the MacOS and all versions of Windows. The Celtic Fantasy CD is only $49 and can be ordered by phone from 1-512-656-8011 or ONLINE
(<--Click Here). It can also be ordered in combination with our other Celtic packages at a special discount (see below).
lso of interest to Celtophiles is our Book of Kells CD. This is a special compilation of full pages and excerpted design elements from the greatest work of Celtic illumination. This is the only legal digital source for reusable images from the Book of Kells which we know of, with extraordinary images based on turn-of-the-century lithographs of the book which are actually more vivid and in better shape than the Book of Kells is today. The package is entirely in color, and includes more than 20 full pages plus initials, emblems and borders which have been taken out and cleaned up for easy use. You can get more details on our Book of Kells package by going to its own page. Just CLICK HERE It can also be ordered in combination with our other Celtic packages at a special discount (see below).
You can order any of our Celtic packages by phone or through our online ordering system. To order by phone just call 1-512-656-8011. To order online with an immediate download go to ONLINE ORDERING.
If your main interest is just fonts or art, we now also offer special smaller packages. The Celtic Fonts sub-package is only $49 and includes all the fonts from both the Celtic Vision and Celtic Fantasy packages, but no art. The Celtic Art sub-package is $49 and includes just the art elements from the Celtic Vision and Celtic Fantasy CDs. These can also be ordered by phone from 1-512-656-8011 or online from ONLINE ORDERING.
You can also order the Celtic Vision and Celtic Fantasy CDs together at a special combination price of only $89, or add in the Book of Kells as well for a total of only $129 – saving $20 overall. This combination can be ordered online or by phone.
If you want to try out one of our Celtic fonts, just download the demo version of our new Owen Jones Cletic Borders font using the link below. The full version can be found on our Celtic CD or ordered individually. To try the demo just click on the image below.
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6 Responses to “Celtic Font and Art Collections”
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[...] Celtic Fonts & Art [...]
I am need a symbol/letter that is out of the 13th century that I cannot find anyplace. If anyone knows about, it’s you guys. It is a combination of the small letter “p” and the small letter “b’. it meaning is or is used as the combined series of the letters th. An example: pe makes up the word the. or bat is the word that. I have a copy of a 13 th century document that has this symbol or letter, but cannot find it in any font collection anyplace. Can you tell me anything about it ? I would give anything to have it. The original document was written in latin in 1420, and translated into English in 1490. It is there that I find this symbol/letter.
Regards, Ken Dust
It’s the letter “thorn”, Þ. You can find it in many fonts with broad Unicode coverage (it is used in modern Icelandic), but it tends not to show up in decorative fonts. Dave, you want to add it?
I ordered 4 fonts but couldn’t find where to answer your question
nor a phone number.
It was really going out of use by the 13th century, but it’s in lots of our fonts.
All of our Master Fonts have it, and most of the medieval fonts as well. In this Celtic package you can find it in Durrow, Alba and Glendower.
Ken, do you want a font which matches the style of the original manuscript or do you want one which does modern letters, but has that character?
Dave
I have an original “Baby’s Own AEsop” the only thing is I can’t find the
publish date for it. It is hard bound is fair shape and has all original pages.
Could you shed some light on this for me please?
Thank You
Sincerely Steve Brown