The Book of Signs

Rudolf Koch

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780486201627
• eBook ISBN: 9780486153902
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

This unusual collection of primitive and medieval symbols provides one of the most fertile single sources of decorative ideas available today. It is also a graphic history of the development of written communication and offers a singular insight into the psychology of the primitive mind.
The Book of Signs contains 493 classified and documented illustrations, collected, drawn, and explained by the celebrated typographer Rudolf Koch. Divided into 14 different categories, it includes General Signs, The Cross, Monogram of Christ, Other Christian Signs, Monograms of Medieval Church and State Leaders, Stone Masons' Signs, The Four Elements, Astronomical Signs, Astrological Signs, Botanical Signs, Chemical Signs, House and Holding Marks, Miscellany, and Runes.
"Provides the contemporary artist with a rich design vocabulary on which to improvise."—Art in Focus.
"An inspiration to graphic artists everywhere."—Graphis.
"An artistic and typographical achievement of considerable beauty and worth."—Psychiatric Quarterly.

1. General signs.

The dot is the origin from which all signs start, and is their innermost essence. It was with this idea that the Masonic lodges of old expressed the secrecy of their guilds by means of the dot.

The vertical stroke represents the one-ness of God, or the Godhead in general; it also symbolizes power descending upon mankind from above, or, in the opposite direction, the yearning of mankind towards higher things.

In the horizontal stroke, on the other hand, we see the Earth, in which life flows evenly and everything moves on the same plane.

The angle, or the meeting of the celestial and the terrestrial. As they possess nothing in common, they touch, but do not cross one another, This sign represents the reciprocation between God and the World. In Masonic lodges of Middle Ages the right angle was the sign of Justice and Integrity.

In the sign of the Cross God and Earth are combined and ace in harmony. From two simple lines a complete sign has been evolved. The Cross is by far the earliest of all signs, and is found everywhere, quite apart from the conception of Christianity.

The circle, being without beginning or end, is also a sign of God or of Eternity. Moreover, in contrast with the next sign, it is a symbol of the sleeping eye of God: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

The open eye of God, the purpose of Revelation: “And God said, Let there be light.”

The passive female element; what has been there from the beginning of all things. “And God divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.”

The active male element; what comes from on high; the effective clement in time.” And God divided the light from the darkness.”

As the male element pervades the female, so creation takes place, since everything belonging to the living world is compounded of the confluence of male and female. In remote ages in the East, and also in early northern mythology, this sign of the wheel-cross was a symbol of the Sun.

The triangle is an ancient Egyptian emblem of the Godhead, and also a Pythagorean symbol for wisdom. In Christianity it is looked upon as the sign of the triple personality of God. Again, in distinction from the next sign, it is another sign for the female element, which is firmly based upon terrestrial matters, and yet yearns after higher things. The female is always earthly in its conception.

The triangle standing upon its apex is, on the other hand, the male element which is by nature celestial, and strives after truth.

Both figures now start moving towards one another, and as they touch each other with their apexes they form another figure, entirely new in appearance, without, however, either of the original figures being damaged or interfaced with in any way.

When, however, they pass through one another, the nature of both is fundamentally altered and, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1. General signs.
• 2. The Cross.
• 3. The Monogram of Christ or Chrismon
• 4. Other Christian signs.
• 5. The Monogram.
• 6. Stonemasons’ signs.
• 7. The four Elements.
• 8. Astronomical signs.
• 9. Astrological Signs.
• 10. Botanical Signs.
• 11. Chemical Signs.
• 12. House- and Holdings-Marks
• 13. Signs from various sources
• 14. Runes