Beautiful Fonts from Ages Gone By. (Eat Your Heart Out, Helvetica!)

A version of this post appeared on The Week:

From simple to ornate, from angular to curvy, from lines to ribbons, go way beyond Helvetica with these samples from The Book of Ornamental Alphabets.

1. 8th and 9th centuries:

2. 10th century:

3. 11th century:

4. 13th century:

5. 14th century:

6. 15th and 16th centuries:

7. 16th century:

8. 16th century:

9. 16th century:

10. 17th century:

More from The Week:
6 hostage negotiation techniques to get you what you want
What’s a life hack everyone should know?
Why ‘female friendly’ restaurants are making women unhappy