Identifying really old fonts

[pop_disaster86]

Hi

I am really struggling with a search for some really old decorative fonts. Here is an example of what I am after:



Obviously I know these are hand-drawn, and thus probably have a lot of 'made up' elements to them. But does anyone know where I can find fonts of this style? I have searched everywhere!

Scouring typeface directories and online font emporiums doesn't find anything close to what I would like, as even the most decorative digital fonts are a lot simpler than what I am after.

What I really need is stuff from Victorian times or even before. Maybe old wood carvings or type from old copies of the Bible. I don't really know, but I'm guessing this could be where I could find such letterforms.

Please can somebody help me!

Thanks in advance

[Toon]

There's a few patterned medievil fonts here

free patterned medievil fonts

Not sure if they're any use to you

[pop_disaster86]

Originally Posted by Toon

There's a few patterned medievil fonts here

free patterned medievil fonts

Not sure if they're any use to you

Thanks for your help

They're sort of in the right direction of what I'm after, but not quite. They're all very gothic and well...medieval! I'm really looking for something like the letterforms I posted earlier - ornate, detailed, but not really gothic. I don't really know what period such typefaces come from, which is what is making this search a lot harder!

[James Random]

Why not have a go at creating your own font? Whip out the sketchbook, lad and get creative.

[rossable]

those look like late 18th to early 19th century fonts to me. the type of stuff you'd see when victorian met wild-west.

[James Random]

You're right there. They would have been invented around the art-nouveau period, probably used in victorian music halls and theaters.

[LaurenMarie]

Well, there's always Rosewood or Adobe Woodtype Ornaments (access the ornaments via InDesign's type>glyphs). If those don't help, try Google Image Search and look for Victorian Type Posters, Victorian Ads, stuff like that. Switch up the words, put quotes, all those variations return different stuff. Then you can trace them.

O! Or try WhatTheFont.com and see if it has any suggestions. You can upload that image, or you can try Identifont, a questionaire that will narrow down the choices for you.