Stewart & Holmes Drug Co.

Source: http://ephimeros.tumblr.com.Image via Norman McKnight. License: All Rights Reserved.

Norman McKnight of Stippleby the most prolific 19th-century designer of ornamental type, Herman Ihlenberg. He

Source: https://archive.org.MacKellar Smiths, & Jordan, 1892. License: Public Domain.

Ihlenberg produced nearly 100 decorative typefaces from the 1860s to around 1905. Many of them are impressively detailed, butStippleis as clever as it is ornate. The genious of the design is not in its variety of spacing material or left/right endcaps (just one option for each character in each size), or even in the way each character's border organically aligns; the best trick is the busy background pattern that appears random and masks the seams where each piece begins and ends. Once the font is set properly, it isn't immediately obvious to the reader that letter, background, and border are all part of each metal block. Only repeating characters give the structure away.