French Alphabet
French Alphabet Clip Art
Alphabet Comique Artiste En Diable
 |
French Alphabet Set |
An unusual clip art alphabet created from my own set of rare French "trade cards."
The vintage originals were published in France during the mid 19th century and are an exquisite example of the printing technique known as chromolithography.
Chromolithography was the first method for making true multi-color prints. (Before the chromolithograph, prints were colored in by hand.) First commercialized in the 1830s by Godefrey Engleman of France, it was based on lithography which used flat stone slabs on which an image is drawn on the surface, but used separate stones for separate colors or impressions. Later, zinc plates were used. Offset printing replaced chromolithography around the 1930s.
During the Victorian era, trade cards were a promotional give-away prized by children and young adults, who collected them in scrapbooks. A charming example of advertising ephemera!
Letters A through Z. The "W" is missing-although it is my understanding that the "W" is used only for "borrowed" words in France, and therefore may never have been published as part of this series.
These alphabet images would make fun embellishments for traditional and digital scrapbooking. A valuable look into our past, these images contain a few questionable charicatures that are not what one would call politically correct; but, if taken in the proper context, these images will prove to be valuable to the historian, Francophile, and researcher as well as the crafter of today.
Preview the Alphabet Clip Art Images Here
Full Clip Art CD Details
Title: Alphabet Comique Artiste En Diable. 25 French Alphabet Trade Cards + 21 French Avril 1 Postcards.
Medium: CD-ROM. Packaged in a crystal clear, unbreakable DiscSaver CD case.
File Format: Uncompressed TIFF. May be imported or opened directly within most desktop publishing, image editing, and word processing applications on both the MAC and PC.
Image Resolution: 300 ppi (color)
