Symbols, Signs and Signets

By Ernst Lehner

Reproducing in historical sequence 1355 signs, seals, and symbols from the simplest drawings of heavenly bodies, through the intricate heraldic devices of the Middle Ages, to modern cattle brands and hobo sign language, this book will be of immense value to the commercial artist and designer. The development of man as an artist and designer is here recorded pictorially by one of the world's foremost experts in the field of graphic art, Ernst Lehner.
This book is divided into 13 sections, each with a separate brief introduction: Symbolic Gods and Deities (Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Germanic, Incan, Aztec, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, etc.); Astronomy and Astrology; Alchemy, Magic, and Mystic (Nordic runes, magic circles, etc.); Church and Religion; Heraldry (coats of arms, badges, etc.); Monsters and Imaginary Figures; Japanese Crests; Marks and Signets (engravers, goldsmiths, armorers, stonemasons, etc.); Watermarks (fourteenth–eighteenth centuries); Printer's Marks (fifteenth–seventeenth centuries); Cattle Brands; and Hobo Signs. All the signs, symbols, and signets are pictured in black and white on strikingly laid out pages, with full explanatory notes for both lay readers and specialists.
Anyone interested in means of communication other than language will find this book fascinating and authoritative. The student and teacher in the graphic arts will find it a practical visual guide through the transformation of simple marks and signs into the complicated emblems of our time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Sep 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486141169

Book preview

DOVER PICTORIAL ARCHIVE SERIES

HERALDIC DESIGN: ITS ORIGINS, ANCIENT FORMS AND MODERN USAGE, Hubert Allcock. (0-486-42975-X)

VICTORIAN PATTERNS AND DESIGNS IN FULL COLOR, G.A. and M.A. Audsley. (0-486-25756-8)

PLANTS AND FLOWERS: 1,761 ILLUSTRATIONS FOR ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS, Alan E. Bessette and William K. Chapman (eds.). (0-486-26957-4)

ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS FROM ARCHITECTURAL SHEET METAL: THE COMPLETE BROSCHART & BRAUN CATALOG, CA. 1900, Jacob Broschart & Wm. A. Braun. (0-486-27039-4)

A GRAMMAR OF JAPANESE ORNAMENT AND DESIGN, Thomas W. Cutler. (0-486-42976-8)

TREASURY OF CHINESE DESIGN MOTIFS, Joseph D’Addetta. (0-486-24167-X)

PICTORIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORIC ORNAMENT 100 PLATES, H. Dolmetsch. (0-486-42834-6)

CHINESE LATTICE DESIGNS, Daniel Sheets Dye. (0-486-23096-1)

DESIGNS FROM PRE-COLUMBIAN MEXICO, Jorge Enciso. (0-486-22794-4)

DECORATIVE FRAMES AND BORDERS, Edmund V. Gillon, Jr. (ed.). (0-486-22928-9)

ART NOUVEAU FRAMES AND BORDERS, Carol Belanger Grafton. (0-486-24513-6)

BANNERS, RIBBONS AND SCROLLS, Carol Belanger Grafton. (0-486-24443-1)

400 FLORAL MOTIFS FOR DESIGNERS, NEEDLEWORKERS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, William Briggs and Co., Ltd., Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (0-486-25162-4)

HUMOROUS VICTORIAN SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS, Carol Belanger Grafton. (0-486-24896-8)

1,001 FLORAL MOTIFS AND ORNAMENTS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, Carol Belanger Grafton. (0-486-25352-X)

SILHOUETTES: A PICTORIAL ARCHIVE OF VARIED ILLUSTRATIONS, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (0-486-23781-8)

TREASURY OF ANIMAL ILLUSTRATIONS: FROM EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SOURCES, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (0-486-25805-X)

TREASURY OF ILLUMINATED BORDERS IN FULL COLOR, Carol Belanger Grafton. (0-486-25699-5)

TREASURY OF JAPANESE DESIGNS AND MOTIFS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (0-486-24435-0)

FULL-COLOR VICTORIAN VIGNETTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN: 344 ANTIQUE CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS, PRINTED ONE SIDE ONLY, Carol Belanger Grafton (ed.). (0-486-24477-6)

SCOTTISH TARTANS IN FULL COLOR, James Grant. (0-486-27046-7)

HISTORIC ORNAMENT, C. B. Griesbach. (0-486-23215-8)

ANIMALS: 1,419 COPYRIGHT-FREE ILLUSTRATIONS OF MAMMALS, BIRDS, FISH, INSECTS, ETC., Jim Harter (ed.). (0-486-23766-4)

TRANSPORTATION: A PICTORIAL ARCHIVE FROM 19TH-CENTURY SOURCES, Jim Harter. (0-486-24499-7)

WOMEN: A PICTORIAL ARCHIVE FROM NINETEENTH-CENTURY SOURCES, Jim Harter. (0-486-23703-6)

HANDBOOK OF DESIGNS AND DEVICES, Clarence P. Hornung. (0-486-20125-2)

VINTAGE SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHILDREN: 795 CUTS FROM THE TEENS AND TWENTIES, Judy M. Johnson (ed.). (0-486-26351-7)

SYMBOLS, SIGNS AND SIGNETS, Ernst Lehner. (0-486-22241-1)

ART DECO DESIGNS AND MOTIFS, Marcia Loeb. (0-486-22826-6)

JAPANESE DESIGN MOTIFS, Matsuya Company. (0-486-22874-6)

PUEBLO DESIGNS: THE RAIN BIRD, H. P. Mera. (0-486-22073-7)

HANDBOOK OF ORNAMENT, Franz S. Meyer. (0-486-20302-6)

WILLIAM MORRIS FULL-COLOR PATTERNS AND DESIGNS, William Morris. (0-486-25645-6)

DESIGNS AND MOTIFS FROM INDIA, Marty Noble. (0-486-43403-6)

SOUTHEAST ASIAN DESIGNS, Marty Noble. (0-486-43106-1)

5000 DECORATIVE MONOGRAMS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, J. O’Kane (ed). (0-486-42979-2)

TRADITIONAL FLORAL DESIGNS AND MOTIFS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, Madeleine Orban-Szontagh. (0-486-26106-9)

RACINET’S HISTORIC ORNAMENT IN FULL COLOR, Auguste Racinet. (0-486-25787-8)

DECOUPAGE: THE BIG PICTURE SOURCEBOOK, Eleanor Rawlings (ed.). (0-486-23182-8)

ART DECO SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS AND MOTIFS: 513 ORIGINAL DESIGNS, William Rowe. (0-486-24924-7)

MACHINERY AND MECHANICAL DEVICES: A TREASURY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CUTS, William Rowe. (0-486-25445-3)

DECORATIVE ART OF THE SOUTHWESTERN INDIANS, Dorothy S. Sides. (0-486-20139-2)

ISLAMIC DESIGNS IN COLOR, N. Simakoff. (0-486-27477-2)

CELTIC STENCIL DESIGNS, Co Spinhoven. (0-486-26427-0)

BIG BOOK OF GRAPHIC DESIGNS AND DEVICES, Typony Inc. (0-486-26261-8)

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN DESIGNS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, Eva Wilson. (Not available in the United Kingdom or Egypt.) (0-486-25339-2)

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN DESIGNS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, Eva Wilson. (Not available in the United Kingdom.) (0-486-25341-4)

WILDFLOWER DESIGNS AND MOTIFS FOR ARTISTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE, Charlene Tarbox. (0-486-27700-3)

ART NOUVEAU FLORAL PATTERNS AND STENCIL DESIGNS IN FULL COLOR, M. P. Verneuil. (0-486-40126-X)

Paperbound unless otherwise indicated. Available at your book dealer, online at www.doverpublications.com, or by writing to Dept. 23, Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, NY 11501. For current price information or for free catalogs (please indicate field of interest), write to Dover Publications or log on to www.doverpublications.com and see every Dover book in print. Each year Dover publishes over 500 books on fine art, music, crafts and needlework, antiques, languages, literature, children’s books, chess, cookery, nature, anthropology, science, mathematics, and other areas.

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Copyright © 1950 by Ernst Lehner.

All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions.

DOVER Pictorial Archive SERIES

This book belongs to the Dover Pictorial Archive Series. You may use the designs and illustrations for graphics and crafts applications, free and without special permission, provided that you include no more than ten in the same publication or project. (For permission for additional use, please write to Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501.)

However, republication or reproduction of any illustration by any other graphic service whether it be in a book or in any other design resource is strictly prohibited.

9780486141169

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 69-16134

Manufactured in

Reviews for Symbols, Signs and Signets

[Victoria Morris · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Standard Dover visual reference. Hard to use digitally because the index of images is in the front and pictures in the back.

[Delano Muhammad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good read i thought it interesting that the star and crescent are the symbols of Divinity and Sovereignty (Muhammadanism) Delano Muhammad