Fleuron (typography)
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A fleuron ( ), also known as a printers' flower, is a typographical symbol, or glyph, used either as a punctuation mark or as an ornament for typographic compositions. Fleurons are stylized forms of flowers or leaves; the term derives from the ('flower'). Robert Bringhurst in The Elements of Typographic Style calls the forms "horticultural dingbats". A commonly encountered fleuron is the , the floral heart or (ivy leaf), also known as an aldus leaf after Italian Renaissance printer Aldus Manutius.
]] A fleuron ( ), also known as a printers' flower, is a typographical symbol, or glyph, used either as a punctuation mark or as an ornament for typographic compositions. Fleurons are stylized forms of flowers or leaves; the term derives from the ('flower'). Robert Bringhurst in The Elements of Typographic Style calls the forms "horticultural dingbats". A commonly encountered fleuron is the , the floral heart or (ivy leaf), also known as an aldus leaf after Italian Renaissance printer Aldus Manutius.
History
on Rhodes, Greece]] Flower decorations are among the oldest typographic ornaments. A fleuron can also be used to fill the white space that results from the indentation of the first line of a paragraph, on a line by itself to divide paragraphs in a highly stylized way, to divide lists, or for pure ornamentation. The fleuron (as a formal glyph) is a sixteenth century introduction. Fleurons were crafted the same way as other typographic elements were: as individual metal sorts that could be fit into the printer's compositions alongside letters and numbers. This saved the printer time and effort in producing ornamentation. Because the sorts could be produced in multiples, printers could build up borders with repeating patterns of fleurons.
See also
( } , mostly used as a sub-chapter section break. Although a group of asterisks is the most common style, fleurons are also seen fulfilling this role. The Fleuron, a British typography magazine from the early 20th century. ❦ (Garden of England), a track from English indie rock band Alt-Js album This Is All Yours.
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1357397596 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.