The alphabet of old friends
The Alphabet of Old Friends is a Victorian illustrated alphabet book for children, made by Walter Crane with colour printing by Edmund Evans and published in London and New York by George Routledge and Sons in 1874. Its pages pair large initial letters in roundels with framed scenes of nursery rhyme characters, animals and domestic life. The panels are dense with decorative borders, flat colour and stylised figures, which a designer could draw on for period pattern work, frame-and-medallion layouts and Arts and Crafts style lettering.
