11 beautiful alphabets from ancient and medieval times

Go way beyond Helvetica

Alphabet

From simple to ornate, from angular to curvy, from lines to ribbons and animal heads, go way beyond Helvetica with these 11 samples from The Book of Ornamental Alphabets.

1. Eighth and ninth centuries. Anglo-Saxon.

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Arika Okrent

Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.