This book offers a visual examination of how signs and symbols developed as a means of communication throughout history in art, religion, psychology, literature and everyday life. It shows how signs weave a continuous fabric of communication throughout our cultures, and how modern systems still depend on ancient symbols. It contains a visual directory of more than 1000 icons, graphic motifs, ideograms and symbols, together with 170 photographs and fine art paintings, and 1000 black and white line drawings detailing some of the most important sets of signs and symbols. Throughout history hundreds of icons and symbols have been developed, interpreted and reproduced; from cave paintings to computer iconography and advertising. This book brings together these variant themes and shows the iconographical and symbolic strands that connect them all, whether it is the universal circle, the hammer and sickle, or the cross that goes far beyond being a symbol of Christianity.