The Fleuron

The Fleuron was a British periodical devoted to typography, printing, book design, and the wider book arts. Published in seven volumes between 1923 and 1930, it became one of the most influential English-language forums for discussions of type, printing history, decorative design, and the relationship between literary production and visual form. It was the journal of the Fleuron Society, a London organization established in 1922 by a group associated with the revival of high-quality typography and book production. The founding group included Stanley Morison, Francis Meynell, Holbrook Jackson, Bernard Newdigate, and Oliver Simon. The journal was conceived as a substantially produced object rather than an ordinary trade magazine. Its volumes combined scholarly essays, historical research, type specimens, illustrations, printed inserts, facsimiles, and commentary on contemporary practitioners. This combination made The Fleuron useful both as a record of typographic thought and as a demonstration of the printing techniques it discussed. Its pages addressed the development of the book, the history and classification of type, music printing, decorative printing, printers' ornaments, and the work of major designers and printers. Oliver Simon edited the first four volumes, issued in London from 1923 through 1925. Stanley Morison edited volumes five through seven, which were produced by the University Press, Cambridge, and distributed or published in association with Doubleday, Page in New York. The change in editorship coincided with a particularly strong emphasis on historical scholarship, type specimens, and the critical reassessment of established narratives in type history. The journal included important contributions by or about figures such as W. A. Dwiggins, D. B. Updike, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Koch, Geofroy Tory, Eric Gill, and Beatrice Warde. Among its notable contents was Warde's argument, published under the male pseudonym Paul Beaujon, that types historically attributed to Claude Garamond had in fact been associated with the sixteenth-century printer Jean Jannon. The journal also published Morison's discussions of decorative printing and his later essay "First Principles of Typography," as well as material connected with the development and presentation of typefaces including Perpetua, Centaur Roman, Monotype Bembo, and Lutetia. The seventh volume included Eric Gill's work on lettering and a complete presentation of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, with type and illustrations by Gill. The Fleuron ended after its seventh volume in 1930, but its influence continued through later British and international typography journals and through the continued study of its essays and specimens. It is often placed within a lineage that includes the Monotype Recorder, Signature, Alphabet and Image, Typographica, Motif, Baseline, Matrix, and Eye. Although the original journal is defunct as a periodical, anthologies, facsimiles, and reproductions have enabled later readers and designers to consult its material. The name also retains a conceptual link to the fleuron itself, a floral ornament used in typography, reinforcing the journal's association with historical printing craft and decorative composition.

The Fleuron emerged from the British typographic and printing revival of the early twentieth century. In 1922, Stanley Morison, Francis Meynell, Holbrook Jackson, Bernard Newdigate, and Oliver Simon established the Fleuron Society in London. The society provided the institutional setting for a journal intended to examine typography and the book arts at a level combining historical scholarship with practical knowledge of printing and design. The first volume appeared in London in 1923 under Oliver Simon's editorship. Four volumes were issued under Simon through 1925. They presented essays, illustrations, type-related material, and historical studies in a lavish format designed to demonstrate the standards of production advocated by the journal. Topics included printers' flowers and arabesques, the development of the book, the work of W. A. Dwiggins and D. B. Updike, the Merrymount Press, and modern English music printing. Stanley Morison assumed editorial responsibility for the fifth volume, published in 1926, and continued through the seventh and final volume in 1930. Volumes five through seven were associated with the University Press, Cambridge, and Doubleday, Page in New York, giving the publication a transatlantic reach. Their contents combined historical research, critical essays, type specimens, decorative examples, and reproductions. The journal became an important venue for reassessing the history of type and for presenting contemporary work by leading designers and printers. The fifth volume included Beatrice Warde's influential correction of the conventional attribution of certain types to Claude Garamond. Warde wrote under the pseudonym Paul Beaujon, adopting a male identity for publication. Later volumes addressed Rudolf Koch, Geofroy Tory, Bruce Rogers, decorative printing in America, and the work of Eric Gill. The seventh volume included specimens of Perpetua, Centaur Roman, Monotype Bembo, and Lutetia, together with Gill's illustrated and typographic treatment of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. It also contained Stanley Morison's essay "First Principles of Typography," which became one of the journal's best-known statements on typographic practice. The periodical ceased publication after seven volumes in 1930. Its end did not mark the end of the British typographic-journal tradition to which it belonged. Later publications, including the Monotype Recorder, Signature, Typographica, Motif, Baseline, Matrix, and Eye, continued to explore related questions of type history, printing, lettering, and graphic design. The Fleuron's original volumes remained important reference works because they preserved both arguments about typography and examples of the printed forms under discussion. Later anthologies and reproductions extended access to the material after the original edition became a historical publication.

• 1930

  Final volume published

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  The seventh and final volume included specimens of Perpetua, Centaur Roman, Monotype Bembo, and Lutetia, Eric Gill material, and Morison's essay "First Principles of Typography."

• 1928

  Sixth volume examines decorative printing

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  The sixth volume featured material on Rudolf Koch and Geofroy Tory, Warde's essay on decorative printing in America, and Morison's discussion of decorated types.

• 1926

  Morison becomes editor

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  Stanley Morison edited the fifth volume, which included Beatrice Warde's historically important discussion of the attribution of Jean Jannon's types to Garamond.

• 1925

  Fourth volume discusses Bruce Rogers

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  The fourth volume included Frederic Warde's essay on the work of the American book and type designer Bruce Rogers.

• 1924

  Third volume expands historical and design coverage

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  The third volume addressed the development of the book, W. A. Dwiggins, D. B. Updike and the Merrymount Press, and modern English music printing.

• 1923

  First volume published

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  The first volume of The Fleuron appeared in London under Oliver Simon's editorship, establishing the journal's combination of typographic essays, illustrations, specimens, and book-arts material.

• 1922

  Fleuron Society established

  [1]The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org

  Stanley Morison, Francis Meynell, Holbrook Jackson, Bernard Newdigate, and Oliver Simon founded the Fleuron Society in London, creating the organization responsible for the journal.

A prestige scholarly and craft-oriented journal that combined typographic history, contemporary design criticism, printing specimens, and finely produced book-arts publishing.

• Typography journal · 1923

  The Fleuron, volumes 1–4

  The first four volumes were published in London between 1923 and 1925 under Oliver Simon's editorship. They established the journal's characteristic format: substantial essays accompanied by illustrations, printing specimens, facsimiles, inserts, and historical material relating to books and type. Subjects ranged from printers' ornaments and the development of the book to contemporary design and music printing.

• Typography journal · 1926

  The Fleuron, volumes 5–7

  The final three volumes were edited by Stanley Morison and published between 1926 and 1930 with the University Press, Cambridge, and Doubleday, Page in New York. They placed particular emphasis on type-history research, decorative printing, major designers and printers, and specimen presentation. The series included discussions of Garamond and Jannon, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Koch, Eric Gill, and several significant typefaces.

• Reprint and reference edition

  Anthologies and reproductions of The Fleuron

  After the original periodical ended, anthologies and reproductions made selected essays, illustrations, specimens, and other material available to later readers. These editions preserve The Fleuron's role as a reference source for the history and practice of typography and book design.

1. 1The Fleuronen.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Fleuron no. 5 at Fonts In Usefontsinuse.com