Fleuron (typography) facts for kids

A fleuron (pronounced FLEW-ron, and sometimes shown as ❧) is a special kind of design or symbol used in printing and writing. Think of it like a tiny, fancy picture of a flower or a leaf. Printers use fleurons to decorate pages or to separate different parts of text, almost like a fancy punctuation mark. The word "fleuron" comes from an old French word meaning "flower."

These decorative symbols are also known as a printers' flower. Sometimes they are called an aldus leaf (named after a famous Italian printer named Aldus Manutius) or a hedera leaf (which means "ivy leaf").

What is a Fleuron?

A fleuron is a small, artistic design that looks like a flower or a leaf. It's a type of glyph, which is a fancy word for a symbol or character used in writing. These designs are part of typography, which is the art and style of arranging type.

Fleurons are often used to make a page look more beautiful or to break up long sections of text. They can be simple or very detailed, showing different kinds of plants.

History of Fleurons

Fleurons have been used for a very long time, even before modern printing. In old handwritten books, artists would draw beautiful decorations around the text. When printing presses were invented, printers wanted their books to look just as nice as the handwritten ones. So, they started using fleurons made from metal blocks, just like the letters they used for words.

Early printers, like Aldus Manutius in Italy, were famous for using these leaf-like designs. This is why fleurons are sometimes called "aldus leaves." They helped make printed books feel special and artistic.

How Fleurons are Used

Fleurons can be used in many ways:

• As decoration: They can make a title page or the start of a chapter look fancy.
• To separate text: Sometimes, a fleuron is placed between paragraphs or sections to show a small pause or change in topic.
• In borders: Many fleurons can be put together to create beautiful decorative borders around a page or a picture.
• As a bullet point: In some older texts, a fleuron might even be used instead of a simple dot for a list.

Even today, you might see fleurons in books, invitations, or other printed materials that want to have an elegant or classic look.

Images for kids

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  Early printers wanted to make their books look as beautiful as old handwritten books, like this one.

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  A fancy title page from a book printed in 1611, showing many decorative designs.

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  A close-up of a printed border from a 1616 book, made with many small fleuron designs.

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  Examples of printed flower borders from a book printed in 1897 that showed different types of printing designs.

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  Decorative borders designed by Thomas Maitland Cleland in 1923.

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  Examples of fleuron symbols from a modern digital font.

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  A detailed fleuron with a thistle design from an 1870 book called Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.

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  A decorative symbol found in the ancient city of Kamiros on Rhodes island, Greece.