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COLLECTIONS
The Human Alphabet
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There is arguably nothing more human than the alphabet, given that language, and particularly written language, often tops the list of qualities which distinguish our dear species most distinctly from others. To form the letters of these alphabets using the human body is then, perhaps, not so strange a leap, and, in fact, seems to be rather appropriate. In their own varied ways artists and scribes have been doing it for centuries. Below we’ve collected some highlights of the many twists and turns of the human font.
![]() | Varied, see sources. |
![]() | Zoe Typelark / Io9 / Spamula.net / Sotirios Raptis |
![]() | Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: Varied, see sources. |
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![Alphabeth de la Bourbonnoise
human alphabet](https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5321/30756974565_61c0cbe5ec_b.jpg)
![The Comical Hotch Potch, or The Alphabet turn'd Posture-Master, 1782 human alphabet](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5796/30668725961_0d9bcd5fc4_b.jpg)
![The Man of Letters or Pierrot's Alphabet (1794)](https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5546/30125012514_11ef632523_b.jpg)
![Page from a Tudor pattern book, (ca. 1520) human alphabet](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5652/30720282936_739504ce22_b.jpg)
![Peter Flötner's Human Alphabet](https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5603/30641159772_7b539e5409_b.jpg)
![dsdsd](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5522/30721475326_1e66e3b647_o.jpg)
![Honoré Daumier's comic alphabet (1836) — Source.](https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5458/30668726231_4449e36cc4_z.jpg)
![Page from the Horae ad usum Parisiensem (1475-1500)](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5696/30456327640_ce3c1e4f87_o.jpg)
![dsdsd](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5768/30456334750_bb61ae2283_c.jpg)
![Detail from above.](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5819/30640885952_26dfb5d83e_z.jpg)
![dsdsd](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5507/30456328480_3ae588b135_b.jpg)
![Pages from Alfabeto in sogno (1683) by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. The title translating as Dream Alphabet](https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5652/30757097975_2713bec410_b.jpg)
![Alfabeto in sogno (1683) by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. The title translating as Dream Alphabet](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5781/30456470080_47d4342717_b.jpg)
![Alfabeto in sogno (1683) by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. The title translating as Dream Alphabet](https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5700/30456470310_003273a9e3_b.jpg)
![Pages from Alfabeto in sogno (1683) by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. The title translating as Dream Alphabet](https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5717/30757097605_91e282a036_b.jpg)
![dsds](https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5790/30722050676_1199225811_o.jpg)