Monumental alphabets

Part Five of The Manual of Monumental Lettering, “Special Alphabets for Special Uses,” gathered complete alphabets for letter cutters to copy (LM p.145–156). Robert L. Cook’s chapters add constructed Roman alphabets drawn over geometric guides (LM p.92–93, 101, 126–127). They record this manual’s selection, rather than the repertoire of every shop.

Constructed Roman (Robert L. Cook)

Plate	Contents	Notes
Modified Classic and V-sunk letters (LM p.92–93)	A–M, N–Z	Drawn over construction circles. The unit is the heavy bar, and letters are eight bars high (LM p.97). Cook notes that bars may be widened for small letters or coarse granites.
Arabic numerals (LM p.101)	0–9	Designed to accompany the antique Roman (LM p.99).
Antique Roman and Raised letters (LM p.126–127)	A–M, N–Z	The classic form adapted to a raised section, printed at readers’ request (LM p.136).

Cook advised students to copy the constructed alphabet faithfully a few times. They needn’t use every construction detail in practice, but the copying teaches how each letter is built (LM p.94).

Part Five: special alphabets

PDF page	Alphabet	Contents	Style
p.146	Roman or “Colonial” by J. W. Wyckoff, after 16th-century Roman letters used on Colonial stones	A–Z, 0–9	Outline
p.146	Alphabet for ornamental inscriptions	A–Z	Outline
p.147	French Antique	A–Z	Outline
p.147	Ornamental alphabet for special inscriptions	A–Z, 0–9	Outline italic
p.148	German letters and German outline lowercase	A–Z, a–z	Outline blackletter
p.149	German Text, and German alphabet with ß and umlauts	A–Z, a–z, 0–9	Solid
p.150	Church Text	A–Z, a–z, 0–9	Solid blackletter
p.151	Old English	A–Z, &, a–z	Solid blackletter
p.152	Another Old English letter	A–Z, a–z, 0–9	Outline
p.153	Lighter Old English	A–Z, &, a–z	Solid
p.153	Old Style Ornament	A–Z, a–z, 0–9, punctuation	Solid
p.154	Light-face Italic and Script capitals	A–Z, a–z, 0–9	Solid
p.155	Italic and Full-face Block	A–Z, a–z, 0–9, punctuation	Solid
p.156	Rustic letters	A–Z	Solid, rough-hewn
p.156	Hebrew (with final forms) and Greek	—	Solid

Several Part Five faces reproduce commercial printing types of the day. The Colonial Roman, French Antique, Rustic and ornamental capitals are closer to the monument trade’s own lettering. The Rustic letter in particular was what Elliott counted among the tasteless fashions of the day (GMB16 p.594).

Using these alphabets

• One style per inscription line. Wyckoff told cutters to keep a lettering book on the bench rather than mix Gothic and Roman in one line (LM p.34–35).
• Match the monument. Elliott objected to Gothic letters on a classic monument, or Roman on a Gothic one (GMB16 p.711).

The lower-plate captions on PDF pp.153 and 155 were rechecked against the high-resolution scans in October 2026. The earlier inventory names “Old Style Condensed” and “Full-face Block” were corrected to the printed captions above.

Digital revivals

The lettering collection records four private studies, including Wyckoff Colonial, Rustic Letters, Old Style Ornament and Square Block Letters. It gives exact coverage and limitations; the font binaries and source-comparison specimens remain private pending rights review.

See also

• Roman letters
• Gothic and Old English letters

Sources

• LM p.92–101, 126–127, 136, 145–156; LM p.34–35.
• GMB16 p.594, 711.

Source and editorial credit

LM publication record · GMB16 publication record.

This is a modern AI-assisted editorial summary. Named contributors are credited with their specific statements above; unidentified contributors remain unverified. Publication editors are not assumed to have written individual articles. Page references use the private scan; source access, edition and rights limitations are recorded in the linked register.